


Maybe being a parent isn't so hard after all

by ShadowsintheClouds



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Adoption, Anxious Tony Stark, DO NOT COPY, F/M, Fluff, Harley Keener Needs a Hug, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Insecure Tony, Minor Character Death, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Iron Man 3, Protective Tony Stark, Sad Harley Keener, Therapy, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:22:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23191579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowsintheClouds/pseuds/ShadowsintheClouds
Summary: After the events with AIM, Tony finds himself quickly drawn back into Harley Keener's life. All goes well for a while. He grows closer to Pepper. Makes friends with Harley's mom. He even starts mentoring both Keener siblings. But, nothing good lasts forever and very quickly Tony finds himself taking custody of two kids under the age of 10. Will Tony figure out this whole parenting thing or will he crumble under the pressure?
Relationships: Harley Keener & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 34
Kudos: 137





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Welcome to my newest fic!!! You’re all in for a wild ride. Just a few housekeeping things. Harley’s age is never explicitly said in the movies so I’m making him 8 years old here because tiny Harley is adorable. Also, there will be some changes to the timeline of events. You’ll just have to wait and see what happens. Also, also, we never learn the name of Harley’s sister and I can’t find anything online so I made one up. Also, also, also, I’m once again screwing with the timeline a bit so be ready! I hope you all enjoy!!! I’ll see you at the end.

Open heart surgery was not one of Toy’s favourite things. Recovering from open-heart surgery was also something that Tony didn’t really like. It had been five whole months since the whole AIM debacle and Tony’s arc reactor removal surgery and Tony was still laid up. He wasn’t allowed long hours in the lab. He wasn’t allowed in any of the new suits he made after blowing all of his up. (Although he was almost cleared for that!) He wasn’t even allowed cheeseburgers! It sucked.

Well, not all of it sucked.

After everything that happened, Tony’s relationship with Pepper actually became stronger. He wasn’t sure how it happened, but he was thankful for it. Tony didn’t know what he’d do without Pepper in his life. Sure, he was plenty independent and could somewhat handle himself, but having Pepper there just made his dreary life brighter. Seeing her smile at one of his stupid jokes just made everything worthwhile.

They’d moved back to the tower in New York after their home got blown up. They salvaged what they could and picked up shop. Tony had managed to rescue his bots from the bottom of the ocean and he was grateful that they were still working.

So, between moving, improving his relationship, and recovering from surgery. Tony sure was experiencing a LOT of changes. And no bigger change came in the form of the Keener family.

About a month after his surgery, when Tony was still mostly bedridden, he decided to reach out to the young kid who helped him when he had nobody else. To his surprise, he was quickly met with a somewhat disgruntled Ms. Keener on the other end of the line. She wasn’t too happy about Harley getting into trouble while she was at work and not watching his sister. But, she was thankful to Tony for protecting him.

From there, an odd sort of friendship started between Tony, Pepper, and Mr. Keener. They talked often, chatted with the kids. Harley couldn’t believe that he got to talk to Iron Man regularly. And his sister Laura was a little ball of laughs. Tony had never really been one to think of being around kids even though he liked them. He just didn’t think it was in the cards for him.

The conversations and video chats were some of the highlights of his recovery. Between the Keeners’, Pepper, and Rhodey, Tony was actually feeling more at ease and happy then he had in a very long time.

But of course, things could never remain so calm and simple.

The call came late at night. Around midnight of you want something more exact. Tony and Pepper had started to settle into bed and were about five seconds from falling asleep when JARVIS alerted them that a call was coming through from a sheriff's office in Tennessee. 

“J put it through to my phone.” Grumbled Tony tiredly as he sat up and reached for his phone.

“Certainly sir.”

“Hello? Mr. Stark. This is Constable Sharon Perez from the Rosehill Sheriffs department. I’m surprised you actually picked up. Honestly thought that the paperwork was a lie.”

“I’m sorry? What’s going on?” asked Tony as Pepper scooted closer to him.

“There’s been an incident that I can’t disclose over the phone. I’m calling because you’re listed as a guardian for both Harley and Laura Keener. How soon would you be able to make your way down here?” Tony’s heart sank at that news. He didn’t know what was going on but he knew he had to go help the kids.

“I can get there in maybe an hour.”

“Alright. We’ll be waiting for you.” Spoke the officer on the other end before she hung up.

“Tony? What’s going on?” asked Pepper as he took Tony’s shaking hands in hers.

“I don’t know. Somethings happened and they need me in Rosehill for Harley and Laura. I… I need to go.” Worried Tony as he started to get out of bed and into a pair of pants.

“Then go. Take the suit. You’re cleared to fly. It’s clear this is an emergency. I’ll fly out on the jet and meet you there.” Spoke Pepper as she too got dressed.

The two continued to frantically get ready while JARVIS ordered a jet for Pepper and got the suit ready for Tony. Just as they were about to leave Pepper pulled Tony into a kiss and stared him down.

“Everything will be alright Tony. We’ll work through this. Whatever this is.”

Tony just nodded and threw himself off of the top of the tower knowing that the suit would catch him.

Tony flew as fast as he reasonably could. He didn’t want to overdo it and keel over before he got to the kids and made sure they were alright. Tony had developed just a little bit more of a self-preservation instinct since the whole Loki thing had happened. Sure, he still had the self-esteem of a piece of paper, but he was working on that.

The second Tony landed in front of the Sheriff's office in Rose Hill, he tripped out of the suit and landed on his face, had JARVIS send it to the roof to keep watch, and ran inside after regaining back just a little bit of his dignity. He all but ran into the main desk in his pursuit of making sure that Harley and Laura were alright.

“I’m looking for Harley and Laura Keener.” Spoke Tony as he looked around the space. It seemed to be overflowing with paperwork. It would give Pepper a heart attack.

“Your name.” asked the lady behind the desk. She looked like she couldn’t really care less about what was going on.

“Tony Stark.”

Well, that got her to look up. Her face paled a bit when she saw who she was dealing with. She even had the gall to look a bit sorry as he got up.

“I’ll be right back with Constable Perez. She’ll explain everything.”

Tony just nodded and took a seat on one of the red plastic chairs. It was late at night. He was tired after working in the lab all day. He just wanted to make sure that everything was alright. Luckily, Tony didn’t have to wait long and was quickly met with Constable Perez who was sporting some blood on her shoes.

That was when Tony really began to worry.

“Hello. I’m Constable Perez. We spoke over the phone.” She held out a hand for Tony to shake and he did so while looking concerned.

“What happened? Is everyone alright? How are the kids?”

“They’re alright. Well, alright for what happened. Harley is still crying and Laura hasn’t said a peep.” Spoke the constable in a flat, if annoyed voice.

“What happened?”

“We received a call at about four o’clock from the Keener residence. The boy had called and sounded very distressed. We sent a few officers up to see what had happened. Ms. Keener had fallen and hit her head on the kitchen counter. She was dead when the kids got home from school and Laura was the one to stumble upon her. I’m sorry.” 

Tony was absolutely stunned at the news. Dead? No. She couldn’t be dead! That wasn’t right. Tony didn’t like this situation. He didn’t like it at all! One of his friends was dead and her kids were all on their own.

Except, Harley and Laura weren’t on their own. They had himself and Pepper. They had more than Tony did when his parents died and he was going to make sure they were better off then he was. And then Tony felt angry. Really angry. The officer said that the call had come in around four in the afternoon. It was now past midnight! Why the hell had thing taken so long when kids were on the line. 

“And why did it take so long for you to call me?” asked Tony as he tried to keep a level head.

“We were debating whether the number was real or if the document was fake.”

“Well, clearly it’s not. Now, where are the kids.”

“I’ll go get them. We put them in a cell to keep an eye on them.”

And at those words, Tony completely lost it. He was already feeling all sorts of confusing emotions, but this just pushed him over the edge.

“A cell? A CELL! Harley is 8 years old! Laura is 6! Why the HELL do you have them in a cell and not in an office! They’re kids for FUCKS SAKE!”

“It was the best way to keep them together and contained until we could contact a guardian or CPS.” Explained Constable Perez. But Tony was done.

“Just go get them.”

She nodded left, leaving Tony reeling with the news. Seconds later Tony found his arms full with crying children as Karley and Laura came running to him. Harley was an absolute mess as Tony held him close were as Laura was crying silently and just allowed herself to be held.

“Hey, hey. It’s alright. It’s ok. You’re safe guys. I’ve got you.” Soothed Tony as he sat on the ground with the kids in his lap. It was uncomfortable but he didn’t care. These kids needed him and he wasn’t about to leave. He wasn’t that much of an asshole.

“Mom’s gone.” Cried Harley and Tony hugged him tighter. He wasn’t one to prolonged contact but he was getting better.

“I know. I know.” Soothed Tony.

“What’s going to happen to us?”

“That’s what I need to discuss with you Mr. Stark” interrupted Constable Perez. “You’re listed as a guardian for both Harley and Laura. If you take them on you’ll need to sign some things before they can be released into your care.”

“Pepper will be here soon. She can help with all of that. In the meantime, it there somewhere quiet I can take them? Somewhere more comfortable?”

She nodded and soon Tony was on his feet holding both children’s hands as they walked towards a back room that looked like it had seen better days. Tony sat down once more and was once again swamped with crying children. He wasn’t exactly sure what to do. He himself wasn’t really allowed to cry as a child. Howard would have shouted and hit him if he had. Tony only had Edwin and Ana Jarvis to go off of as actual role models for parenting.

So, Tony did what he could. He talked to them. Managed to get a few giggles out of Harley. He got them a few snacks and was concerned at Laura’s refusal to even make a sound. Well, he couldn’t really blame the poor girl. She was the one who found her mother after all. At least she drank the juice box Tony gave her.

An hour after Tony arrived, Pepper finally made it. She was quick to make it to where Tony and the kids were after she was brought up to speed on what happened. Pepper was quick to join them where they were sitting and pull little Laura onto her own lap.

“Oh, Tony. What are we going to do?” asked Pepper once she noticed that Laura had fallen asleep and Harley was getting there as well.

“I’m not letting them go into the system Pep. I know we haven’t really talked about kids but I know they have to come back home with us.”

“Ok. Good. I was worried that I’d have to talk you into that decision.” Smiled Pepper as she ran her hand through Laura’s curly blonde hair.

“Come on! Have a little faith in me.” Joked Tony. But Pepper could tell that he was still nervous about his decision. But, they knew that they were the best option for the kids so they took the plunge.

An officer came in and gave them the papers that would need to be signed so that they could take temporary custody of the Keener siblings. There was a lot of paperwork and Tony found it hard to get it done with Harley still on his lap, but he did get it done.

Because it was an emergency, things were sent off and processed pretty quickly. Well, not that quickly because it was the middle of the night. They all ended up spending the night at the police station waiting for things to clear. Tony didn’t sleep at all. He was on the phone most of the night with Happy, who had come down with Pepper, so they could get a moving van to gather up the kid's things from their house to bring back to the Tower. He was also coordinating with JARVIS on getting things like extra snacks and toys sent to the tower. And as for the kid's rooms there. Well, Tony and Pepper had two extra rooms on their floor for guests that could be turned into rooms for the kids. Harley and Laura could choose how they wanted to decorate them. Maybe that would be a fun activity to help them process things.

Once the sun had risen and everyone was awake, Tony and Pepper were given the all-clear to take the kids with them back home. They would expect some more paperwork and some home visits but they were at least cleared to go. Pepper carried Laura out and Tony held Harley’s hand as they walked to where Happy was waiting with the rental truck. They all bundled in and drove off to the old house while Tony explained to the kids what was going to happen now. There were some tired and sad nods from the kids in the back.

Once they arrived at the house, Harley all but sprinted to the garage to pack things up, but not without slamming the doors. Tony would have to talk with him about that later. Or maybe get a therapist. Yeah, that sounded like a better idea. Tony didn’t really know what he was doing.

Happy went inside to go look for any important keepsakes such as photo albums and jewelry that could be packed up for the kids and Tony went to go take Laura up to her room to pack her things while Pepper sorted out the living room and got some boxes ready for Harley’s room. Well, that was the plan before Laura started screaming and crying just as they were about to enter the house.

“Hey, hey. Laura. What’s wrong little miss?” worried Tony as he sat down on the front stoop with Laura in his arms.

Laura just continued crying and curled up as small as she could in Tony’s arms. The noise had drawn Pepper down from where she was and she looked at the scene with sad eyes.

“Want me to stay out here with her while you go help pack up? Maybe it’s not the best idea to bring her back inside when the last time she was here she saw her mother dead.”

“Right. Ok. I’ll pass her off to you and I’ll check in on Harley.”

So, Tony passed a crying Laura over to Pepper while he went inside to help Harley. He found the kid throwing some of the inventions Tony sent him into a box that Pepper had brought him.

“Is Laura ok?” asked Harley. He didn’t look up from what he was doing.

“She will be. She’s just scared to come inside. Pepper’s with her.” Explained Tony.

Harley nodded and got back to packing.

It didn’t take too long to get everything they wanted packed up. The rest could be handled later. There was a small break for lunch in which Tony treated the kids to some ice cream much to Pepper’s displeasure. Pepper made sure the kids ate some vegetables to balance it all out. By the end of the day, everything was packed onto the truck and a booster seat was added to the moving van for Laura. Happy wished them luck and took the plane back to New York while Tony and Pepper drove with the kid.

They started their drive at night so that the kids could get some sleep and they wouldn’t have to stop too often. Pepper took over driving after a few hours so that Tony could sleep. He really needed it after the past 24 odd hours. He hadn’t slept at all yet and he trusted Pepper to drive safe. She was one of only three people he trusted to drive him.

Once morning rolled around they all ate breakfast and Tony took over the driving once more. He handed the kids a spare tablet that Pepper had brought so they could watch a movie. They still had a few hours left on the drive and it was easier to keep them occupied with a movie.

After hours of driving Tony was happy to see the tower once more. He and Pepper quickly got the kids out of their seats and rode the elevator up to their floor. It was almost time for lunch anyway so Tony asked JARVIS to order some pizza and salad so that they had something to eat before they unpacked and got the kids set up in their rooms.

The kids ate in silence while Tony and Pepper laid down some rules. They weren’t anything big. They were things like no going in the lab without Tony being there. Help clean up when you make a mess. Use your manners. Basic things. Both kids understood and soon after lunch was done Tony and Pepper were helping them set p their new rooms.

There wasn’t a whole lot at the moment. Just when they had brought from their old house. A few clothes, sheets, toys, and stuffed animals dotted the spaces and Tony knew he had to do something to make the spaces less depressing.

“Harley. How do you want to decorate your new room?” asked Tony as he helped the bot put some sheets on his bed.

“I get to choose? However I want?” asked Harley excitedly.

“Well, within reason. Like I don’t think Pep will let us paint the wall black or stuff like that.”

“Can I have a robot-themed room?”

“Of course. Let’s got to ordering.”

The two spent a good hour sitting there on the floor with a tablet while just going through websites and having Harley excitedly pick things out. They even got around to ordering some grey paint for the walls and some chalkboard paint for an accent wall. The kid was smiling the whole time. It made Tony feel a bit better over everything that was happening. 

Meanwhile, Pepper was doing much the same with Laura after they had put away her things. Laura still wasn’t talking so Pepper sat her down with the tablet and let her point to the things she wanted for her room. What she picked out was nothing short of a fairy princess’s paradise. The whole room was going to be pink and purple and just covered in soft things. A perfect room for their new little princess.

That night Pepper took it upon herself to make some dinner. It was high time the kids have some vegetables in them. After dinner, Pepper had to go work on some things for SI so Tony took it upon himself to help the kids get ready for bed. He had absolutely no idea what he was doing so he was grateful for Harley’s help when it came to making sure Laura did when she needed to do.

Because Laura was younger she was first to go to bed. So while Harley got himself ready for bed, Tony tucked in Laura and read her a story. He had vague memories of Ana reading to him when he was little so he thought it would work with Laura. So, Tony read to her and made sure she fell asleep. She was still completely silent and that worried Tony. He’d have to talk it over with Pepper when she got back.

With Laura all put to bed for the night, Tony made his way to Harley’s room. The boy was sitting on his bed in some black pyjamas. He was sitting cross-legged on edge of the bed and was looking pointedly down at the floor. Tony sighed and entered the room. Harley looked up at Tony and Tony was sad to see that he had a few tears in his eyes. 

“How you holding up squirt?” asked Tony even though he knew the answer. He sat down next to Harley on his bed and Harley shrugged still looking down at his hands.

“Look, I know I’m not the touchy-feely squishy type of person, but if you need someone to talk to I’ll listen. I promise to try and be better than both of our shitty dads. Alright?” Harley nodded and Tony sighed.

“I know this sucks. It sucks a lot. Losing a mom sucks. Trust me, I’ve been there. But you’re not alone Harley. You’ve got me and Pepper. You still have your sister. You’re somewhere safe. I promised your mom I’d look out for you. You’re safe here. So for now, you can be sad and when you’re done being sad Pep and I will be right here. Same with Rhodey because I know he’s excited to meet you and your sister. Alright?” spoke Tony. He wasn’t good at this whole comforting thing but he thought he did pretty alright.

“Yeah, alright.” Mumbled Harley.

Tony put his arm around the boy and pulled him into a hug. Things may be a complete mess at the moment but it would all be alright. If it was one thing that Tony knew was that things eventually worked out, no matter how bad they got. Tony looked over at Harley and pulled him in a little closer. He wasn’t going to fail these kids like he’d been failed in the past. He was going to end the cycle of shame right then and there with these kids. Sure, it may be a difficult road but he’d do it just to make sure that Harley and Laura were alright.

Was this was being a dad was?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! How is everyone? How’s isolation treating you? As I’m writing this chapter it’s March 17 and pretty much everything is in lockdown here. Oh well. More time for writing. Stay safe out there everyone and wash your hands! I’ll see you at the end.

Having two kids around the tower that needed a lot of supervision was a huge adjustment for Tony and Pepper. Because Pepper was CEO she still had to go into work during the day so that left Tony on leave back home with the kids.

It had only been a week since Tony and Pepper had taken up the roles as parents to Harley and Laura and so far nothing bad had happened. There were a few meltdowns from Laura and a little bit of shouting from Harley but that was expected. They’d just lost their mom and were now in a new place they had every right to feel upset.

The kids were both having nightmares since arriving at the tower. Luckily Tony just didn’t sleep enough so he took it upon himself to sit up with the kids when they needed him. He and Harley would spend the night making little contraptions with Harley while Laura sat beside them with her stuffed unicorn and watched with tired eyes. 

The only big worry they had was that Laura still wasn’t talking. It made Tony and Pepper feel uneasy. Tony more so. Yes, he knew that this was probably trauma-related, but he couldn’t help but feel like he was failing at this whole thing because Laura still wasn’t comfortable. Logically he knew it wasn’t his fault. But he couldn’t help but feel that way. 

So one night after the kids were in bed, Tony went and talked to Pepper.

Pepper was already in their room when Tony showed up. She’d helped put Laura to bed while Tony tackled Harley. Tony walked in exhaustedly and flopped down with his head on Pepper’s lap. She ran a hand through his hair and Tony sighed at the sensation. He took a moment to bask in her comfort before finally speaking up. 

“I don’t know if I can do this Pep. I want to be good for them but I don’t know-how. And with Laura not talking it’s just…” sighed Tony as he pushed himself up from his admittedly comfortable position.

“You are good for them Tony. I know it’s hard for you to see that, but you are. You’re the one who talks Harley down when he’d angry. You’re the one who painted Laura’s nails and made her smile. You’re trying your best. It hasn’t even been that long. You’ll adjust.” Spoke Pepper as she puller her boyfriend into a hug.

“But you are right. Laura not taking is concerning. We should probably see about getting both of them therapy.”

“I was thinking so too. And uh… I’m thinking maybe I’ll give it a try too. I know I haven’t had a panic attack in a few weeks, but I think maybe I’ll try it if the kids are.” Spoke Tony, his head bowed.

“How very responsible of you Tony.”

“Well, I do try.”

The two spent a while talking over the logistic of things. They wanted to make sure they were making an informed decision before they sent the kids so see anyone. Plus there was all the legal work that would need to be done beforehand to ensure their safety. It was pretty late by the time Tony and Pepper finally fell asleep for the night.

The next day was one of Pepper’s rare days off so she and Tony plopped the kids down with some snacks and a movie while they went over different therapists and made some calls. They were in a very privileged situation to get things going fast and to afford the best of the best for the kids. And, soon enough, they had the kids booked for an appointment on Monday.

Now all they had to do was tell them and explain what was going on.

“Hey, guys. Come on. Let’s have a little chit chat.” Announced Tony as he and Pepper walked into the room and had JARVIS pause the movie they were watching.

The two kids looked up at the adults who had entered the room and made some room on the couch for them. They sat between Tony and Pepper while wondering what was going on.

“So kiddos. Pepper and I had a little chat last night. We know that things have been pretty rough the last few weeks with all the changes that have happened. So, we decided it would be in you guys’ best interest to start seeing a therapist.” Explained Tony.

Little Laura just nodded along. She didn’t really understand what therapy was yet so he and Pepper would need to explain it to her. Harley, on the other hand, understood perfectly and looked both a mixture of shocked and furious. 

“No.” grumbled the boy and Tony looked over in concern.

“Harley?”

“I’m not going! You can’t make me!” shouted Harley as he stormed off back to his room. Tony took a look back at Pepper before he went to go talk everything over with Harley, one on one.

Tony found Harley sitting on his bed. His arms were crossed and he was scowling at the floor as if it had personally offended him.

“Harley…” sighed Tony as he entered the room and the kid’s head snapped up.

“It’s stupid. I’m not going! I’m not weak!” snapped Harley and Tony went to go sit next to him.

“Harley… I’m going to start going too. Does that make me weak?” asked Tony as he put an arm around the boy’s shoulder.

“No… but…” worried Harley and Tony sighed.

“Look, I know you think this will make you weak. You’ve heard that for so long. My dad pushed the same bullshit down my throat when I was a kid. I know where you’re coming from. But we’re going to be better than them, right Harley. Better than our shitty dads.” 

Harley had to think for a moment about what Tony was saying. There was a LOT to unpack with everything that was going on. So much had changed in the past few weeks and it was a lot to handle for the 8-year-old. But, Harley knew that Tony understood what he was going through. It wasn’t like there was an adult who just didn’t understand telling him what to do. And… well… Tony was going to go to therapy too. If he was going then how bad could it really be?

“Can I stop going if it’s really bad?” asked Harley as he finally looked up at Tony.

“If it’s really bad and the therapist isn’t actually helping you then yes, you can stop.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” 

Tony managed to get Harley to come with him back to the living room where Pepper and Laura were working on dinner together. Harley apologized for storming out but Pepper understood. The poor kid was dealing with a lot. Some anger was to be expected. At least he was doing alright at the moment. 

The kid's first appointment didn’t go as horribly as Tony and Pepper had originally anticipated. The therapist ended up talking with Tony and Pepper after so they could set up a plan on how to move forward. They also talked about maybe getting the kids back to school and on a schedule.

So, they decided that they would enrol Harley at the local STEM school to finish off the last 2 months of the year while Laura would be homeschooled for a bit. She was still very shy and with more therapy, they were sure she’d slowly start to talk again, but for now, she was better off in a safe, quiet environment. And it wasn’t like Tony would struggle to teach the first-grade curriculum. Plus he knew if he needed help he could call on Bruce and Rhodey. Speaking of which he should probably call them and let them know what was going on.

So, with a plan now in action and the kids informed, it was time to set things in action. They got the kids enrolled with the appropriate people and school supplies were bought. So, after a week, Tony dropped Harley off at school for the first time and then proceeded to try and get Laura to sit still long enough to go through her writing lesson.

When it came tome to pick up Harley Tony was glad that the kid was smiling when he met him at the car. It looked like he’d had a good day despite being the new kid. Tony was glad that nothing too dramatic had happened. He wouldn’t know what to do if anything had.

That night, after the kids had gone to bed and Pepper had calmed down for the night, Tony found himself in his lab talking to Bruce and Rhodey over video chat. He really needed them to know what was happening in the tower and that they should maybe come by. Bruce was due to return back soon anyway. He’d been in a conference in England for the past three weeks and Tony hadn’t wanted to disturb him with everything.

“Hey, guys.” Smiled Tony as his best friends appeared on the screen in front of him.

“Hey, Tones. What’s new?’ asked Rhodey and Tony grimaced a little bit. He wasn’t really sure where to start but he knew he had to.

“Well uh… I lot has happened in the last couple of weeks.”

“Like what?” asked Bruce curiously.

“Remember that kid Harley I talk about?” the two nodded, “Well, his mom passed away so he and his sister Laura live with Pepper and me now. Legal guardians and everything.”

“So… you’re saying you’re a dad now?” asked Rhodey, a little dumbstruck at what Tony had just said. Sure he knew Tony was good with kids to a degree but this was a huge step.

“I guess. Like the kids aren’t calling me and Pepper Mom and Dad yet or anything. Like we take care of their schooling and take them to therapy. I’m even homeschooling Laura for the remainder of the school year. And well, the tower hasn’t imploded yet so I guess I’m doing alright.”

“Now this I have to see.” Commented Rhodey.

Three days later Rhodey returned from base and picked up Bruce from the airport on the way over. When the two arrived at the tower they were greeted with the sight of Pepper working on her tablet while Tony tried to help Harley and Laura with their math work without overcomplicating it or getting super frustrated with the idiocy that is common core math.

Harley was the first one to notice the two new arrivals and that kid IMMEDIATELY started geeking out. He was absolutely bombarding the two with questions and honestly it was a little overwhelming. Tony had to practically pry the kid off of Bruce so the poor man could breathe. Seeing the others and being formally introduced to his new Uncles Rhodey and Bruce had certainly made Harley’s day. It took a lot of effort to get the kid to actually got to sleep that night.

“So… This is a thing now.” Spoke Rhodey once the adults were finally left to their own devices.

“This is a thing now. And Tony’s handling it very well.” Praised Pepper and Tony smiled a bit.

“I figure as long as I’m not doing anything Howard would have done and I actually help the kids then they’ll turn out better than me.”

“And how are YOU doing?” asked Bruce. He was well aware that Tony was likely panicking a bit over the situation.

“Well… I’ve started seeing a therapist for my anxiety and PTSD. I don’t really like it but if it keeps things running smooth and the kids safe then I’ll take it. Plus maybe I’ll have a few less nightmares and panic attacks so it’s a good trade-off.” Supplied Tony with a shrug.

The adults spent a few hours talking before they were interrupted by Laura waking up and coming into the living room. She clambered onto Pepper’s lap and just sat there like nothing was going on. Likely she just needed a cuddle before going back to bed. Nobody was going to begrudge her that. 

When Tony finally got to bed that night he couldn’t help but think about how much his life had changed in the past 5 odd years. He’d gone from an alcoholic, melancholic, playboy to a superhero with an amazing girlfriend and taking custody of a couple of kids. Younger Tony would never believe that he’d ever get anything close to resembling a family of his own. That was why he tried to fill the void with women and alcohol. Although the alcoholism was a big part Howard’s fault. Addictions tend to run in families and it certainly didn’t help that Howard had given him alcohol to “man up” multiple times as a kid.

Wow, Howard was a shitty dad. Tony made a promise to himself that he would never be like that to Harley and Laura or any other kids that he managed to collect along the way.

And wasn’t that a novel thought. More kids. Tony tried not to dwell on it too much. Two was enough for now. But who knows. He tended to attract scientifically inclined children. Maybe in a few years, he could re-examine that thought. Right now he had enough to worry about. Between two kids, a multi-billion dollar company, and knowing that there was a high possibility of another alien invasion and earth being woefully ill-prepared, he had enough on his plate. 

Everything else could wait a little bit. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what did everyone think? Cute chapter? Is Tony dadding well enough? He’s trying. He’ll get the hang of it eventually. Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I’ll see you soon! -Shadows


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! How’s everyone doing? Not too badly I hope. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. Mostly filler with lots of fluff and a smattering of plot. Also, welcome to the “Shadows is sick with crazy allergies chronicles” Let's see how much my writing suffers because of it. I’ll see you at the end.

Things at the tower seemed to calm down for a while as the school year came to an end. Rhodey visited when he could and Bruce moved onto his floor permanently. He would sometimes come up to Tony’s floor for meals and to visit, but he mostly stuck to his and Tony’s lab space.

As the school year came to a close and all those pesky end of year tests were finished, Tony and Pepper soon found themselves with two kids home constantly. Pepper still had work full time and Tony still had to do lab work and inventing for SI so the kids often found themselves being watched by a mixture of Bruce and JARVIS when Tony was called away to meetings. When it came to lab time though, Harley would often go with Tony so he could help out a bit and learn things.

And that was where they were now. Sitting on the floor of the lab while Tony explained some blueprints for a new remote generator to Harley. Harley was like a sponge and just soaked up everything that Tony was telling him. Tony just knew that the kid would grow up to do amazing things. Especially now that he had the tools to do so.

“Hey Harley, wanna build a robot?” asked Tony as he started to put away the blueprints in favour of a less boring activity.

“Really!” Exclaimed Harley excitedly.

“Yeah, come on. Let’s go grab some gloves and safety glasses.”

Harley was quick to scramble up from his spot so he could grab the things he needed. Tony smiled as he did so. It was kind of fun teaching Harley all about robotics and AI. It was his specialty after all. So, the two began working. There were laughs and smiles, but eventually, they buckled down to work. But still, the silence was weird and Harley had this pinched look in his face that had Tony feeling a bit concerned. 

“You’re pretty quiet over there Harls. What’s on your mind?” asked Tony. Harley sighed but eventually looked up at Tony.

“You know you’re really the only dad I’ve got. My real dad wasn’t really a dad to me and Laura at all. You’re the closest I’ve ever got to one.”

And well, well that statement took Tony by surprise. He honestly hadn’t been expecting anything like that. Sure, he was Harley’s guardian and he was trying his best to be good for the kids. But to pretty much be called dad? It felt odd, but it also oddly felt right.

“Do you… want to call me Dad?” asked Tony tentatively.

“Can I?” asked Harley, just as tentatively as Tony.

“If you want to. I don’t mind.”

“Ok. Thanks… Dad.”

Tony was sort of at a loss for words for the rest of the day. Sure, he talked to the kids and made sure that they had fun and got ready for bed on time. But he wasn’t entirely sure how to broach the topic of what had happened with Harley. Luckily, Pepper didn’t bring it up when Harley had called him “Dad” at the dinner table. Laura didn’t say anything either but she was still a kid of very few words. But once Tony and Pepper had retired to their room for the day once work was done and the kids were asleep, Tony just had to bring up what was going on.”

“Pep. He’s calling me his dad!” with an air of excitement and trepidation.

“Well Tony, you sort of are. You look after the kids. You play games with them. You help with homework. You sort of discipline them when they act up. You genuinely care. Face it, Tony. You’re a dad now.” Smiled Pepper as she got into bed beside Tony.

And Tony, even though he was struck with emotion and understanding at her words, just had to fire back.

“Well if I’m Dad then you’re Mom.”

“Hmm. I guess so. But only if the kids want to call me mom. It might take them a while. They did only lose theirs a few months ago. I don’t want to pressure them.”

There was silence for a moment before Tony spoke up again.

“But what if I’m not cut out for this? What if I turn into Howard?” worried Tony and Pepper sighed before taking Tony’s hands in hers.

“Tony. We’ve been over this. You are not Howard. You have a heart. You care for others. You’re good for these kids. The fact that you’re worried already proves that you are 100 times the man than your father ever was.” Tony nodded along to Pepper’s words and tried to let them sink in. He knew they were true, not he just needed to start believing them himself.

The two fell asleep not too long after their little discussion. Tony was feeling better about the whole dad thing. After sleeping on them and having a long talk with his therapist the next day, Tony was working in the right direction of figuring his shit out. It would be hard work but Tony was willing to do it if it meant being a better father then Howard had been.

The following days followed much in the same pattern. The kids were home for the summer and keeping them busy for the day was important. Although, it was slightly easier with Harley. At the moment, he was at a friend's house from school. Pepper had dropped him off before she went to one of the plants for a meeting that Tony didn’t need to attend because he’d finished all his work well before the deadline for once. So that left Tony and Laura alone for the afternoon.

Keeping a six-year-old entertained wasn’t something Tony excelled at. He was trying but it was a learning curve. Although, Tony had absolutely no qualms about watching Disney movies with her. They’d probably watched Hercules together at least ten times.

But that particular day was a little bit different. Tony and Laura had made a blanket fort in the lab with the help of DUM-E and the other bots so that they had a fun place to colour and watch movies on the tablet. It was actually really fun and everything seemed normal until Laura tapped him on the shoulder.

“Daddy. Snack?”

Tony’s head whipped around and he stared down at her. Laura was looking at him with her big green eyes and Tony’s heart melted. Laura was talking and healing and Tony was so proud of her.

“Sure munchkin. Let’s go get some of your fishy crackers.” Smiled Tony as Laura grabbed his hand and the two walked towards the kitchen in search of snacks.

When Tony went to pick up Harley later the kid was excited that his little sister was starting to talk again. Pepper was too once she got home and Laura shyly caller her Mom. 

After that, Laura continued to work on her talking. She was still mostly silent but she was already doing so much better. She’d talk to Pepper, laugh with Tony, and joke around a bit with Harley. It was nice to see Laura feeing some happiness again. 

Summer vacation was now in full swing and not long after July 4th, Tony and Pepper decided it was high time they both take some of their required time off to spend two weeks with the kids just doing stuff. After a little bit of discussion, they decided to fly out to a little private rental place Tony had in California. They’d leave in mid-July so they could celebrate Harley’s 9th birthday there.

When told, both kids were over the moon excited about the prospect of getting to spend a vacation on the beach. Harley was especially excited that Rhodey and Bruce would be coming. Rhodey had leave during that time so naturally he was tagging alone after visiting his mother and sisters.

So, after getting everyone packed up, they boarded Tony’s private jet and set off to California.

Laura and Harley were both rambunctious the entire flight. It was their first time on a plane and everything was new and exciting. And they were even more rambunctious once they landed. The two were absolute balls of energy the entire drive to the house. They couldn’t wait to see everything and do everything there was to offer.

Once they arrived the kids got set up in their rooms while Pepper and Tony got things set up for the next week. It didn’t take long for Harley and Laura to come running out in their new swimsuits eager to explore the beach.

Pepper was the one to take the kids into the water while Tony stayed on the beach and supervised. After Afghanistan, he didn’t like water too much. Being waterboarded was enough for him to call off all baths and swimming. Showers were alright but that was it. So, Tony sat off to the side and made sure that there were some killer snacks ready for the kids when they were done playing. If there was one thing Tony knew it was how to make really good snacks. 

Two days later was Harley’s birthday. The kid was a ball of excitement the entire day. He got some new science kids and a laptop of his own so he could learn how to code from Tony. Some new toys from Pepper and Laura. Bruce and Rhodey had even gotten him some new Tony and science experiments. The day was going great, right up until, just after dinner when Harley disappeared to his room for a little bit. So, Tony went to check in on him.

“What’s up squirt?” asked Tony as he walked in and saw Harley sitting on the floor looking at a photo album. 

“It’s just… I miss her.” Sighed Harley and Tony knew that he was talking about his mom.

“You’re allowed to miss her Harley. She loved you. She raised you and your sister. We’re allowed to miss the people we love.” Consoled Tony and Harley nodded.

“Do you… do you ever miss your mom?” asked Harley.

“All the time. And that’s alright. We can still love those we’ve lost. We can miss them and mourn them and we can continue doing things that would make them happy.” Harley nodded again and put the album back in his suitcase.

“Ok… can we have cake now?”

“Sure bud. Let's go get you all sugared up so you never sleep again.” Joked Tony as he ruffled Harley’s hair.

“Like you’re any better when it comes to coffee old man.” Joked Harley as he ran out of the room.

“Hey! Not fair!” shouted Back Tony as he chased after the kids who had already made it to the back porch were Pepper was. The whole situation had everyone laughing a bit. It was nice.

Unfortunately, the little family’s vacation was cut a bit short then someone ratted out their situation to the press. Tony and Pepper had been so careful to keep their location hidden. It was just their luck that there had been some paparazzi hiding in the bushes when Tony and Pepper took the kids down to the beach for the afternoon.

And so the rumours began to spread. There were a lot of… unsavoury things being said about Tony. The press called him a cheater. They speculated that the kids were his from a number of affairs from back in Tony’s party days. There were a lot of people saying that the kids were theirs and Tony took them. It just wasn’t fun. All Tony and Pepper had wanted was to spend a fun day out with the kids and everything had gotten blown out of proportion.

Very quickly they all returned home to New York. Pepper was fielding calls with their PR manager while Tony was talking to their lawyers and a couple of social workers. There were things that needed to be worked out quickly and paperwork that was needed before Tony could give an official press statement. 

But, before releasing a statement, there was something Tony wanted to ask the kids. Something very important. 

“Alright, kiddos. Serious talk time.” Spoke Tony one night just as they were all finishing up dinner.

“Is it because of the news?” asked Harley.

“It is… a bit. But something else had come up in the last day and Pepper and I wanted to talk to you two about it.”

“What is it?” asked Laura as she clambered onto Tony’s lap.

“Well, our lawyers and CPS gave Pep and I a few calls yesterday. Now, Pepper and I are your legal guardians and they wanted to know if we wanted to change that.”

“Change how? Does that mean you’re getting rid of us?” worried Harley and Tony quickly out his fears to rest.

“No, no, no! Far from it. Pepper and I want to know if you two want to officially become Starks.” 

“You… you want to adopt us?” asked Harley tentatively.

“Yeah. We do. Pepper and I want you two to be ours. Permanently.”

Seconds later Tony and Pepper found their arms full of two sobbing, but very happy kids. The two did their best to comfort them and they ended up having a little celebratory dinner that night. The kids were all smiles and sass. They were already Starks. Now it was time to make it official.

A week later was the court date. Everything was official and Harley and Laura Keener became Harley and Laura Stark. They went out for ice cream as a treat after. Somehow Tony ended up with chocolate in his hair. Nobody questioned it.

Two days after the kids were officially adopted, Tony held a press conference. He was tired of seeing all the negative speculation about him, Pepper, and the kidlets. So, he and Pepper donned some of their nicer clothes, got the kids dressed up just in case, and made their way down to one of the press rooms of the second floor of the tower.

“Good afternoon.” Began Tony as he and Pepper stood side by side at a podium surrounded by microphones and flashing cameras. “It would appear that there are some rumours going around. We’re here to dispel those rumours. We will not be taking questions today.”

“The two kids you’ve seen lately with Pepper and I are our kids Harley and Laura. No, they are not mine biologically. They’re adopted. Pepper and I were good friends with their mother and when she passed we took in her kids. They are under our protection. This isn’t a charity case. This isn’t a case of a paternity claim. This is us building a family where our kids can be safe. I think it goes without saying that I’d like you all to stay away from the kids. I had cameras in my face my entire life. Leave them out of it.” Spoke Tony as he stared down everyone in the room.

Once Tony was done, Pepper took over and corroborated what Tony had just said. A lot of it was repeated but she also covered some legal stuff. Trust Pepper to remember the things Tony forgot.

Because they weren’t taking questions, once they were done, Tony and Pepper just walked off to return to the kids who were waiting close by just in case. There was a sort of cathartic joy in ignoring all the flashing lights and annoyingly personal questions. They quickly returned to the kids and went back up to the penthouse so they could make lunch. Once again Pepper tried to make it healthy but was thwarted by Tony and the kid's insistence on having dino nuggets.

A month after the press conference, Tony’s life was shaken once more. It was a week before school was going to start and Tony had received a cryptic text from Natasha Romanov telling him to keep inside with the kids and Pepper and to be ready in his lab to receive a LOT of information. So, Tony did.

Six hours later HYDRA was exposed and SHIELD fell. It was terrifying to watch. Pepper made sure the kids were detracted while Tony worked to go through the data dump that Steve and Natasha had caused. He was working double-time to make sure that the non-HYDRA agents who were undercover were safe as well as their families.

The entire time Tony was working, he kept coming across files that were blocked and salvaged by Natasha. Tony wanted to see what they were but there just wasn’t time. There was bigger information to go through and people that needed saving anyway. It was probably just her own personal information or something about her buddy Clint. Nothing too bad in theory. So, Tony out that stuff on the back burner and continued his work.

It couldn’t be too bad… right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So… what did y’all think? The kids are officially Starks now so that’s exciting! I hope y’all are doing alright. Keep safe and I’ll see you soon. Wash your hands! -Shadows


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the next chapter! Who’s ready for the kidlets to meet the Avengers! A lot is going to happen this chapter so stay tuned. I’ll see you at the end! 

Steve, Natasha, Clint, and some guy named Sam Wilson who Cap trusted, showed up asking for help and shelter two weeks after SHIELD fell and Natasha mouthed off to congress. Tony, after having a quick talk with Pepper, let them in and showed them around. It was a bit awkward when Tony showed them where they’d be staying. Steve was a bit overwhelmed at the space and how different it was to his old SHIELD issue apartment. He also seemed a bit standoffish when it came to Tony. But then again, the poor guy had just taken down a major organization and found out that his buddy from the war was still alive so Tony didn’t hold it against him.

“So, that’s the tour. Don’t be afraid to ask JARVIS for help if you need it. I’m sure the kids will be excited to meet you so I’ll introduce them to you once they get home from school.” Spoke Tony after he showed them the communal kitchen space. 

“I’ve never thought of you as ever being a dad, Stark.” Snarked Steve and Tony had to fight really hard not to give an overly sassy reply. There was no use further antagonizing the man who his own father valued more than he ever did Tony.

“Well, never say never. I’ve got two great kids and they’re happy so I’m happy.” Was all he said in reply. “Well, I’ll leave you guys to unpack and get comfortable. Bruce said he’d be down to say hi once he finishes up his newest experiment. I’ll be back in a few hours with the kids. I just know Harley’s going to go nuts so be prepared.”

And with that, Tony left so that the other Avengers could get themselves settled. In that time, Tony wasn’t really sure what t do with himself. He made his way to his lab in an attempt to get some work done. With the Avengers finally moving in Tony knew he had to upgrade their sorry excuses for gear. He could swear some of it looked like Hammer Tech and that idiot was in prison for life.

But, as much as Tony wanted to work, he just couldn’t. His mind was wandering back to the fact that the man who his father idolized was a few floors below him. There was also the fact that the man his father idolized didn’t seem to like him. Not even back on the carrier during the New York invasion did Steve really like him. Sure it didn’t look like the guy hated him, but he didn’t _like_ him.

And that brought up a whole bunch of old insecurities and memories. A lot of old things had been dug up after Tony had started therapy. Tony remembered a time when Howard had shattered a bottle of whiskey on Tony’s head and told him that he was so useless and pathetic that not even Captain America would even bother to help him if he were set on fire. Tony had been 9 at the time.

There were a lot of other similar incidents that Tony never talked about. Pepper and Rhodey knew about them. He’d told them. He trusted them. But there was still a lot to unpack when it came to his own childhood, having kids now, and living with Steve Rogers.

Tony didn’t get any work done that afternoon, and soon enough it was time to go pick up the kids from school. He waited in the pick-up lane and the second the bell rang the car was full with two kids excitedly talking about their day.

“So kids, I have a bit of a surprise for when we get back to the tower.” Started Tony. He figured he would tell the kids about their new guests now so that they wouldn’t freak out when they actually met.

“What is it? What is it? What is it?” exclaimed Harley excitedly from his seat. He was practically bouncing out from the restraints of his seatbelt.

“Well, because of recent events, the other Avengers have decided to move back into the tower.”

The unholy screech of excitement that came from Harley was insane. Even Laura was yelling at him to stop.

“HARLEY! STOP IT!” cried out Laura as she held her hands over her ears.

“Yeah, I agree with your sister Harley. I know it’s exciting but the screech of death isn’t necessary.”

Tony spent the rest of the ride back telling the kids what things would be like now that there were even more people living in the tower. There were some rules that had to be put in place and the kids promised to try and behave. Tony wasn’t expecting that to hold though. Harley and Laura were kids. Kids mess up and act out and Tony wasn’t going to be like his father when they happened. He knew better at this point. 

The kids loved meeting the other Avengers once they got home. Actually, it turned out that the new guy, Sam, was pretty good with kids. Same with Clint. Natasha and Steve were a bit awkward but Tony didn’t pay them much mind. As long as they were nice and didn’t hurt the kids then it was alright.

That night, after the kids had gone to bed, Steve gave Tony the rundown on what was happening and what needed to be done. There was… a lot to go over. The team would need new gear and they’d need to get on people like Maria Hill to run base ops. They’d need plans and maps and all sorts of other junk. Steve said he needed Tony’s help, and well, he couldn’t really say no. Sure, he’d talk everything over with Pepper, but he still agreed to help.

He needed to help.

A week later, Thor showed up with a request to join in the hunt for HYDRA and Loki’s sceptre. They were quick to get him up to speed and soon Thor was brought on again as an Avenger. What made Tony happy was that Thor got along great with the kids. He made a pretty good babysitter when Tony and Pepper both had to be in meetings that went into the evenings.

So, with Thor now there, all the Avengers had assembled. Well, all of them except Tony. He was… unsure of his place among the team. As far as he knew he was still just a consultant as per Romanov’s scathing, actually rather hurtful review of him when he was dying. Despite the fact that Tony had flown a nuke into a wormhole to save New York, he was almost positive that that standing hadn’t changed.

That and his relationship with Cap wasn’t great. Steve didn’t like him because of his old SHIELD file that only really profiled his public mask and not who he really as a person. There was also the fact that Tony was a man of the future and Steve was still stuck in the past. Not to mention all the daddy issues on Tony’s side. To say that the two butted heads often as Tony tried to sort out everyone’s new gear was an understatement.

But that wasn’t to say that Tony wasn’t trying. He really was. He wanted this all to work out. Whether he said it or not, the Avengers meant a lot to Tony. Be to part of something good after being so complicit in something bad. He needed this.

So, when Steve came to Tony and asked him to join in, he practically jumped at the opportunity. Well, he wanted to. But there was the small snag of him having told Pepper that’s he’d stop with the whole self-sacrificing thing that came with being Iron Man.

So, before Tony could give Steve a definitive answer, he needed to talk to Pepper.

“We need to have a talk. Like, a serious talk.” Spoke Tony one evening as he and Pepper sat down on their bed to enjoy a movie together. He knew he was ruining the moment but he knew if he put this off then things wouldn’t end well.

“What do we need to talk about? Did you miss a deadline again?” asked Pepper teasingly and Tony wanted to laugh but just couldn’t.

“No, you know JARVIS would never let that happen. It’s… it’s about the Avengers.” Sighed Tony and Pepper scooted closer to him.

“What kind of stuff about the Avengers?”

“Well, Cap and I had a talk this afternoon. He wants me on the team. He wants me there helping. And… and I know I said that I was done. I know I promised you I’d stop. But Pepper, I don’t think I can. I’m finally being offered a place on the team. I finally being offered a place where I can try and fix things. And… and I’m scared that if I say no, that things will go wrong. I’m scared that if I don’t do this then I’ll be the disappointment Cap and my father think I am. I… I need to do this and if you don’t want this then you need to stop me before I make a mistake.” Pleaded Tony. He knew this conversation was going to be intense but he wasn’t expecting any of the words that had just come out of his mouth. 

The room was silent for a moment while Pepper absorbed what Tony had said and Tony tried not to panic. He found that he had trouble looking Pepper in the eyes as the silence dragged on. He didn’t want to see what she was thinking. Tony had been trying so hard to be a good boyfriend and a good father. Seeing any form of disappointment would just tear his heart up. 

“Hey, Tony. Look at me.” Soothed Pepper and Tony finally looked up. He’d expected some form of disappointment. But what he found was understanding. 

“Tony. I understand. I understand now. I know you need to help. I know that you CAN help. I won’t begrudge you this. And… in the past, before AIM and the kids, I probably wouldn’t be able to handle this. But I know differently now. I know you need to do this and I want to help.” Spoke Pepper as she caressed Tony’s face. Tony closed his eyes and leant his forehead against hers.

“Just promise me one thing. Promise me you try your best to be safe. Promise me you’ll try to come home to us. We need you, Tony. Always remember that you are loved.”

“I promise. God Pepper, I promise.” Whispered Tony as he hugged her. The two spent the night together just talking and working out the finer details before falling asleep in each other’s arms.

The next morning they explained everything to the kids. Tony sat them down and explained what him being an Avenger would entail. That he wouldn’t be home as often now because he’d be away on missions. That sometimes he might come home hurt or grumpy if things went badly. Harley thought the whole thing was cool. He’d always thought the whole Iron Man thing was cool. But now that Tony was going back into action, he was officially really cool!

That afternoon, Tony went to Steve with his answer. He’d be there to join the team on missions and with gear as long as Steve didn’t send him into any overly deadly situations on purpose. He also had to have a set amount of time a day where he could work on SI inventions and be with his kids. Steve agreed and two weeks later they were on their way to their first hidden HYDRA base in Louisiana. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So…? What did y’all think? We got some feelings worked out. We got a bit more information on Howard. We got the Avengers reforming and Harley freaking out. I say we covered a lot. Drop a comment to let me know what you think. I’ll see you all soon. Stay safe out there. -Shadows


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Henlo there! A LOT is going to happen this chapter. Some will be fluffy and tooth-rotting while some will be angsty and a bit sad. All I’ll say is that I’m 100% team Tony and some people here in this chapter are… not so nice. You’ll see what I mean. I’ll see you at the end. Also, I’ve got a little bit of a song rec for this chapter. Listen to [Take Me Back](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCZnMDZrgvQ) from the new StarKid musical, Black Friday! 

For the next few months, the newly assembled Avengers team travelled across America to take down local HYDRA bases. It was hard work but they gathered loads of information. While the others kicked ass, Tony was the one to infiltrate their servers and gather as much information as he could. Sometimes Rhodey came to help out. Those days were fun and it always made Tony a bit giddy when Cap had to defer some command to Rhodey because he was a superior officer. It was kind of funny the first time Rhodey made him salute. And what made it finnier was that Rhodey was only doing it to be a dick because he’d heard about some of the things Cap had said about Tony when they first met.

It was awesome.

Just after Thanksgiving, Tony and Hill got into some negotiations with the UN and some other world governments where they knew HYDRA bases were to ask for permission to go in and take them out. There wasn’t much resistance although this small country called Sakovia was very hesitant. You see, they didn’t much like Tony because back in 2007 some of his weapons were used to decimate their capital. After doing some digging Tony found out that the weapons were almost identical knock offs made by Stane and his crew for his black-market arms dealings and that HYDRA was partially behind the attacks. He gave that information to the government and that set the record straight pretty damn quick. 

But, in between missions, Tony made sure to spend as much time as he could with Pepper and the kids. There were often times when Tony would come home from a mission feeling extremely anxious. Some of the things he saw and learned just set him off. There were things that reminded him of Afghanistan and of the Battle of New York. Pepper was always there to meet him once the jet landed. She made things feel better. God he loved her.

Which was why Tony was currently helping Happy dig through a box on his floor looking for the ring he’d had Happy hold onto for him since 2008. Tony had known for a long time that if he were to ever settle down and marry anyone it would be Pepper. And now, he’d finally gotten the courage together to finally ask her. They lived together, worked together, adopted a couple of kids together. They were pretty much married already so why not go and make things official.

After spending way too long tracking down the ring, Happy found it in one of his jacket pockets. Tony smiled as he was tossed over to him. The ring itself was pale gold with a small singular diamond in the centre. It was extravagant like one would think an engagement ring from Tony Stark would look like. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The ring was more sentimental than anything. The ring was a family heirloom passed down from Tony’s mother. It had once belonged to Tony’s grandmother and had been passed down to his mother and then Tony. That’s why the ring was simple. Tony’s mother’s side of the family hadn’t been rich until Maria married Howard. They were fishermen in Italy. That’s where Maria and Howard had met actually. Being half Italian sure explained why Tony loved pizza and pasta so much.

With the ring now safely back in his hands, Tony started to plan out the perfect proposal. It took a little bit, but once he had a plan, Tony was excited, yet nervous to implement it.

It started with Tony asking Pepper out for date night. Rhodey was visiting so he was on babysitting duty. Rhodey always got the kids hyped up on sugar when he babysat, but Tony wasn’t about to complain. Rhodey had them for the whole night so any trouble they got into was his problem.

Once Pepper agreed to the date, it was time to put everything else into action. Tony donned one of his best suits, made sure he had the ring safely tucked in his pocket, and took Pepper out to their favourite restaurant. It was a little hole-in-the-wall Italian joint that Tony had discovered years ago. Sure, they were a little dressed up for the setting, but it was fun and Tony wanted to do this all right.

They spent their dinner joking about the current happenings at the tower and at work. They talked about trivial things like the weather and whether or not they should start watching a new show together. Tony went out of his way to make Pepper laugh. He always loved it when she laughed.

Afterwards, they made their way back to the tower for some alone time. As much as Tony would have like to take Pepper out on a walk or a fly, the December air was just too cold for that. So, he made so with what he had. Just after they’d left for the restaurant, Bruce and Natasha had decked out Tony and Pepper’s room with flowers, candles, and some of Pepper’s favourite chocolates. They’d done such a good job that Tony would have to repay them somehow. 

“Tony, what’s all this?” asked Pepper as she shrugged off her coat and draped it over the back of a nearby chair. Tony did the same and double-checked to make sure the ring was in his pocket. It was now or never. 

“Pepper, um… I’ve got something very important to ask you.” Fumbled Tony. He was nervous and it showed just a bit.

“And what would that be?” 

“Pepper, I know I can be an ass and I’m not good with feelings. I know I’m a mess, but I’m your mess so…” Tony sighed and looked at Pepper. She had a smirk on her face so he continued. “I know I may not be the most attentive at times, and I know I wasn’t always the best. But you and the kids… you’re the best things to ever happen to me. And I know I’ve turned this into all about me with all this word vomit, but I just have so much to say and I’m not sure how to say it so I’ll just say it like this. I love you, Pepper. I love you and I want you to marry me.”

Tony then proceeded to reach into his pocket, pull out the ring, and get down on one knee. 

“So, will you, Virginia Potts, marry me?”

Tony looked up at Pepper and saw that she had a huge smile on her face. There were a few stray tears in her eyes. Tony, despite all his insecurities, already knew what Pepper’s answer would be. He just wanted to hear her say it. 

“Yes, Tony. Of course, I’ll marry you.”

Tony practically jumped to his feet to pull her into a kiss. They were both smiling, Pepper was crying a bit. Tony slid the ring onto her finger with a small kiss to Pepper’s hand. They just stood there in each other’s arms for a little while. This was their moment and they wanted to savour it.

“I love you, Tony.” Smiled Pepper as she looked at their joined hands.

“And I love you.” Smiled Tony as he gave his fiancée (HIS FIANCÉE!!”) another kiss.

“So… Rhodey has the kids for the night. You wanna…” Tony lent in and whispered the rest to Pepper and she retaliated by kissing him back.

Tony just smiled as they had the rest of the night to reaffirm their love for each other.

The next morning, Tony and Pepper very happily announced their engagement to their friends and family. Everyone was very excited. Rhodey and the kids especially. Laura pretty much stood up and all our demanded that she be the flower girl. Nobody wanted to argue with her. She was their little princess after all.

A week later, just after the holidays, Tony and Pepper announced their engagement to the world via an Instagram post on both of their accounts. The world went nuts over the fact that the world's power couple were finally tying the knot. Sure, there were the nasty comments and such from not so nice people and jealous exes, but nobody really cared. Tony was going to marry the love of his life. Nothing could put a damper on his mood. 

Life continued on after Tony’s proposal. He and Pepper worked on planning their wedding. Well, Pepper mostly did the planning. They didn’t want anything big. Just family and friends. And Laura would, of course, be their flower girl. They made a promise and were determined to keep it.

It turned out that planning a wedding was a LOT of work, even if the wedding wasn’t going to be for at least a year to keep the press off their tail. Dresses had to be bought, suits had to be tailored, flowers had to be figured out. There was so much to do. At least picking the wedding party was easy. Rhodey was Tony’s best man, Happy was the other groomsman, Harley was the ring bearer, Pepper’s best friend Amelia was her maid of honour, and Natasha was the other bridesmaid. The two had hit it off a bit once they actually got to know each other. They were pretty scary together.

So, with all the stress of wedding planning, helping the kids with school work, making things for SI and the Avengers, and running Avengers missions on a new international scale, Tony very quickly found himself overwhelmed and high strung. He tried had to hide how he was feeling in front of the team and the kids. The team didn’t need to know and judge him whereas the kids just didn’t need that at the moment.

But, there were times when Tony found himself super stressed and so deep in thought that he didn’t really pay attention to where he was going. And that was how Tony found himself in the hallway on the common floor pacing around. It was mostly silent until he rounded a corner and saw Natasha practically yelling at Steve.

“You need to tell him, Steve. He deserves to know. This isn’t just about you here. These are Stark’s parents. He needs to know.” Seethed Natasha and Tony felt himself growing concerned. So, he decided he needed to intervein and get some answers.

“What about my parents?” asked Tony as he interrupted the two. Steve took a step back in shock whereas Natasha glared between the two of them.

“Tell him Steve or I will.” Snapped Natasha before she walked ever so calmly out of the room. But as she left she shot Tony a look of… was that sympathy. Tony didn’t like that at all.

So, once Natasha left, only Tony and Steve remained in the room. There was a table between them that had a few papers and a tablet strewn about it. It all looked chaotically organized. The two stood there in silence for a moment. Tony was looking expectantly at Steve and Steve was looking everywhere but back at him.

“So… what do you have to tell me about my parents?”

Steve continued to stand there, frozen on the spot

“Cap… what’s going on?”

“Tony… You’d better sit down.” Spoke Steve. He still refused to look at Tony. Tony sat down and waited for Steve to start talking. It took about five minutes, but after a deep sigh, Steve began talking.

“Back when we were fighting HYDRA within SHIELD, Natasha and I came across some information. Some information that we locked away because we didn’t know what to do with it at the time. Information that I didn’t want to think about.”

“And what was it? Does it have anything to do with the encrypted files from the data dump?” asked Tony. Steve sighed again but continued.

“It was about Bucky and uh… some of the things he did while under the influence of HYDRA. They made him do a lot of very bad things. But this one… I don’t… I don’t know how to handle it.”

“But what does this have to do with my parents?”

“Well, um… there’s really no gentle way to put it. I don’t know how to make it gentle.” Steve was wringing his hands and absolutely refused to look at Tony. It didn’t sit well with him.

“Well, uh… the thing is… Your parents didn’t die in a drunk driving accident like you were told. The uh... the whole thing was staged. The Winter Soldier killed your parents. I’m so sorry Tony.”

Tony was… shocked, to say the least. His mind instantly went back to that day. The day he saw his parents for the last time. He remembered Howard yelling at him. He remembered yelling back. He remembered his mom looking disappointed in him. He remembered his mom kissing him goodbye before they left while Howard drank a tall glass of whiskey. He remembered learning about their death on the news and calling Rhodey in tears. He remembered Stane “consoling” him. And by consoling Tony meant giving him alcohol and ushering him to his workshop to “work it out”. 

But, as Tony sat there remembering that moment, he also kept coming back to the part where Steve didn’t want to tell him this. He helped hide the file. He refused to tell Tony until his hand was played. It hurt. It really hurt. Howard had always told Tony that Captain America was the paragon of virtue. Howard had admired the man and cared for him more than he ever had Tony. And here Steve was, not wanting to tell Tony the circumstances of his friend’s death. 

For a moment, Tony decided to give Steve the benefit of the doubt. Maybe there was a good reason. Maybe Steve had held off on telling Tony until they were alone and the kids weren’t running wild. But, Tony, ever emotionally stunted and tactful, spat out the first question on the tip of his tongue. 

“Would you ever have told me if Natasha didn’t force you and I didn’t walk in just now? Would you?”

Steve couldn’t look at Tony and that gave him his answer.

Tony got to his feet, hands shakings and eyes slightly unfocused. He was working hard to keep his breathing under control. He turned his back to Steve and wanted to leave but he knew he had to get one last answer.

“Why?”

“I didn’t want it to hurt you and I also knew I’d need your help to help Bucky.”

And that had Tony whipping around to stare at the man with audacity. How dare he! How dare Steve think so little of him!”

“I’ve helped people for less. I’ve helped people who have tried to kill me. And yet you don’t trust me to do the right thing. I hate you, Cap. You’re not the man my father said you were.” Spat Tony. He wanted the words to hurt.

And they did. Steve's face fell as Tony fled from the room. Both had tears in their eyes. Tony pretty much ran to his workshop and collapsed on the floor in front of the couch. His hands were shaking and his breath was ragged as he tried to get a handle on the situation. But he couldn’t/ his mind was flooded with thoughts of betrayal, of the last things he said to his parents, of hearing about their death in the news the next morning. It was horrible and he just wanted everything to stop.

Tony was so caught up in his own head that he missed Pepper and the kids entering the lab. 

“Dad? Are you ok?” asked Harley as he went and sat on the ground next to Tony. Tony shook his head and sat back on his heels. He was very quickly swarmed by his kids. Harley was clinging to his arms while Laura sat on his lap. They all just sat there for a moment until Tony calmed down. 

“Tony… what happened?” asked Pepper and Tony finally looked up.

“This…This isn’t for children’s ears…” sighed Tony.

He didn’t pay much attention as Pepper ushered the kids out for a bit and sat down back at his side.

“What’s going on Tony? What happened?” asked Pepper as he pulled her fiancé into her arms.

“Cap just told me that the Winter Soldier killed my parents. They didn’t die in a car crash. They were murdered and he knew. He fucking knew and wasn’t going to fucking tell me. He only told me because I showed up at the right time when he was talking to Natasha. He knew and he wasn’t going to tell me…”

Tony was border-line crying again by the end of his explanation. He was getting really sick and tired of crying but he just couldn’t help it. Pepper just held him and offered comfort. They’d learned over time what the other needed when bad things happened. It took a little bit but eventually Tony was able to calm down.

Tony spent the rest of the night just doing mindless activities with the kids. Once they were in bed Tony called up Rhodey and told him what happened. Understandably, Rhodey wasn’t very happy with everything going on. He promised to come visit soon and give Cap a piece of his mind. Rhodey had been there for Tony after his parents had died, so, all of this came as a shock and he was a little bit pissed. Tony was tempted to let Rhodey just go at Cap, but he knew that wouldn’t solve anything.

A week after Steve told Tony about his parents, Tony found himself in therapy. He needed to talk this through with someone who could be impartial to what was going on. He knew if he talked to Pepper, Happy, or Rhodey they would talk him out of thing or just be spiteful. So, Tony did the good thing and went to therapy.

There was a lot of talking. There was also a lot of shouting and crying. Tony often felt exhausted afterwards and would just hunker down on the couch to watch some mindless kids movie with Harley and Laura after. But, after a little while, Tony came to some conclusions. So, he went to find Steve to talk to him. He didn’t tell his friends and family about his little plan. He knew they wouldn’t like it but his therapist was one board so...

Tony found Steve sitting on the balcony doing some painting. The two were silent for a moment before Tony spoke up. He wanted to get this over with. 

“Cap, I’ll help your little brainwashed buddy here. He’s innocent in all this. He had no control and I know what that’s like. But I’m still pissed at you. You had control over your own actions, and you not wanting to tell me about my own god damn parents speaks a lot to your own character. I thought we were beginning friends. Guess I was wrong. You’re gonna need to bring out the big guns to fix this Cap. Sure, I’ll still help the team, but you? I’m really pissed at you.” Snapped Tony and Steve nodded. 

Tony walked away sincerely hoping that things would get better. He needed a god damn break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lordy, Lordy! That was a LOT! So, what did everyone think? Was the proposal cute? I thought it was cute. Let me know what you think in the comments. I’ll see you all soon!! -Shadows.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If y’all have been paying attention so the sort of messed up timeline here then I think y’all know what time it is! Be ready for angst, pain, and a way around a huge plot point in the movies. Also, I’m just putting it out there. I hate the Maximoff’s in the MCU. The movies did them so dirty. They’re so much better in the comics. Also, those two were totally at least 20 in AOU so any dates I use in the chapter will use that age accordingly. I’ll see you at the end.

With the UN’s permission, the Avengers were soon going on international missions to take out the remains of HYDRA. The more they got ride of the closer they got to finding Loki’s sceptre and finishing this leg of their journey.

And that journey lead them to Sakovia.

They’d finally found the location of Strucker and the sceptre and they were currently in a fight against HYDRA on the outskirts of the capital city trying to take down as many HYDRA agents as they could while Tony worked on a way to get them into the main base.

“SHIT!” shouted Tony as he ricocheted off of a protective force field that surrounded the building.

“Language!” exclaimed Cap and that had pretty much everyone giggling a bit. Yeah, that wasn’t going to go away anytime soon.

It took a little bit of finagling and quick thinking, but soon enough Tony was able to bring down the force field and open the base up for everyone. Tony went in first. His job was to go in and take down their servers while gathering information from them. It was a pretty simple job and Tony had no trouble executing the task.

Until JARVIS pointed out that there was a draft coming from the far wall.

“Please be a secret door. Please be a secret door. Please be a secret door.” Chanted Tony as he felt along the wall and gave it a push. The second he did that the wall opened up and revealed a stone staircase that went under the building.

“Yeah!”

Tony proceeded down the corridor and into a large underground bunker. The place was a mess. There were tools on the floor. Tables were upturned. There were Chitauri Leviathans hanging from a few chains. There were spills on the floor. The place looked like it had been abandoned in a hurry.

Wait! Chitauri Leviathan!

Tony looked up in horror. His face blanched as he saw the beast above him. Just the sight made his chest tighten and his skin crawl. His breaths became stuttered and his vision swam as he tried not to be pulled back to that day.

“Uh.. guys. I’ve got something here. I’ve got the sceptre but I think I need back up.” Spoke Tony, his voice as level as he could make it considering the circumstances.

“Be careful. There are two enhanced on the field.” Warned Steve and Tony replied with understanding.

Suddenly, Tony saw his vision go red and his brain felt all fuzzy. He blinked and shook his head to rid himself of the feeling and once he opened his eyes, everything had changed. The Leviathan came to life with a giant roar and Tony’s heart stuttered in his chest. He looked around with wide eyes and saw that the room had changed as well. The walls had become the dark void of space and the ground had morphed into the broken streets of New York after the battle in 2012. 

And what made everything worse were the bodies on the ground. His teammates and friends were all laying there in various states of bloodied and bruised. Cap’s shield was broken and Thor’s hammer lay in pieces beside their bodies. His other teammates weren’t fairing much better.

But seeing their broken, beaten bodies wasn’t the worst of it. Just on the edge of his field of vision lay some very important bodies. Bodies that made Tony run towards them and nearly throw up. He was Rhodey and Happy laying buried under rubble. He saw his kids, broken and eyes unseeing. He saw Pepper with a huge hole in her chest.

Tony's blood ran cold and his hands shook at the sight. Any words he had were caught in his throat as his vision turned to the sky above. There were ships and Chitauri raining down death and destructions and Tony couldn’t do anything. He could even protect the ones he loved the most. He couldn’t do anything and he felt helpless. He couldn’t do anything and it was all his fault. 

Just as soon as Tony was thrust into that horrible vision, he was pulled out and back int reality. His breathing was still heavy and his hands shook with fear over what he had seen. 

Seconds later a flash of silver crossed his vision. Tony didn’t know what hit him (Well he knew but at the time it was all to fast for him to process), but he was knocked to the floor with tremendous force. He felt his leg snap underneath him as his back hit the concrete floor and the air was knocked from his lungs. Tony’s chest flared up with pain as he fought for breath. His eyes became unseeing once more as he was transported back to that portal back in 2012. 

Tony laid there on the floor for who knows how long. He wasn’t counting or anything. His eyes were unseeing and his mind was stuck between dealing with the fiery pain in his chest and leg and being stuck surrounded by the dead. Thor and Cap must have showed up at some point to retrieve him. They had his location because of the suit. But Tony didn’t register Thor picking him up gently and Steve grabbing the sceptre. Tony didn’t really register anything until he was already on the jet and being jostled around. He pretty much screamed in pain when the pressure in his chest grew as they climbed into the sky, and his leg wasn’t fairing much better.

Luckily, because they had two injured teammates, the Avengers made it back to the tower in record time. Tony was quickly whisked away to medical where he was given pain medication and x-rays to see the damage. Clint was quickly fixed up by Doctor Cho and sent on his way.

Pepper had been home at the time and was quick to get to Tony’s side. He’d calmed down considerably now that he was home and his pain was being managed. The doctor was able to give her the rundown of all of Tony’s injuries. He had broken his lower left leg but it wasn’t too bad. He’d just need a cast and time. His chest was another story though. When Tony had been fallen on his chest, his artificial sternum had been knocked loose and would need surgery to correct. They would do that the next day as it wasn’t urgent and would need his specialist to come in and fix.

Soon after making sure that Tony was comfortable, the doctor left leaving Tony and Pepper alone for a bit until they were inevitably swarmed by the kids.

“Hey, Tony. How are you feeling?” asked Pepper as she took his hand in hers.

“I’ve been better.”

“What happened, sweetie?”

And Tony, to his credit, told his fiancée everything. He didn’t want to lie to Pepper about this. Everything he’d been shown was absolutely traumatizing. So, it was really no surprise when Tony had started to have a panic attack in the middle of his recalling. Pepper just held him and made sure he felt safe until the worst passed and Tony could breathe again. He was so very thankful for Pepper.

“Shh Tony. We’re all alright. We’re all alive. We’re all here. Nobodies hurt us. I’m fine. The kids are fine. Rhodey and Happy are fine. The team is fine and healing. We’re alright.” Soothed Pepper and Tony nodded in her embrace. Tony knew he’d have to go have a chat with his therapist about all of this, but for now, he settled on a hug from Pepper. 

About half an hour later, after Tony and Pepper had had a long discussion about maybe putting in some more protective deep space scanners to the new Stark defence satellite, the telltale sounds of Harley and Laura running down the hall to Tony’s room in medical could be heard. In seconds the two kids had entered the room, dumped their backpacks in the corner and ran up to the bed where Tony sat tethered to an IV and heart monitor. 

“Dad? Did you have an episode again? Do we need to put you in a home?” asked Harley as he hopped up on the bed. He looked at Tony’s bloodshot eyes before he picked up Laura and put her at Tony’s other side. Harley was almost 10 years old now and growing like a weed. The same went for Laura who just snuggled into his side. 

“Hey! Not cool!” spoke Tony, although his smile betrayed his true emotions. He knew Harley was just joking to make him feel better.

“So what happened? Mom wouldn’t tell us?” asked Harley as he scooted in a little closer.

“There were some enhanced on the field. HYDRA made them that way. One could mess with minds and the other was a speedster. I took a hit from both. But don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

“And how did that lead to you breaking your leg?”

“Speedy guy went too fast and tripped me.”

“Is that also why mom said you needed surgery on your chest?” worried Harley, his jovial attitude dissipating.

“Yeah, bud. But don’t worry too much about that. The doctors will fix me up and we’ll all be ok.”

“You promise old man?”

“I promise. And stop calling me old!” 

Tony’s surgery was the next day and it went flawlessly. The damage to his artificial sternum wasn’t as bad as previously thought so it was an easy fix. He’d be out of Avengers Medical by the end of the week if he didn’t over-do himself.

He spent most of the time in medical either giving statements on what had happened to Steve and the UN or just sitting there with the kids watching stupid videos on the internet. Laura had brought he school books down every night and they would work on her math homework together. Tony made the most of what was admittedly a pretty shitty situation.

He also spent a LOT of time talking to his therapist. The fact that Tony was convinced that if aliens came back and invaded Earth that it would be his fault was just not going to cut it. It would take some time and maybe a few new specialty suits made for space before Tony could work thought all of this, but at least he was getting a healthy start on it. 

Once Tony was finally released he found himself confined to a wheelchair until his chest healed enough for him to use crutches for his leg. So, with the damage to his chest and leg, Iron Man was pretty much out of commission for the next three odd months. Tony complained about that, but Pepper was happy to have him home for a little bit.

So, with Tony out of commission, he missed Thor taking the sceptre back to Asgard and the other Avengers returning to Sakovia to bring the two enhanced twins into custody. There was a lot to unpack when it came to those two.

They had joined HYDRA and allowed them to experiment on them because they wanted to kill Tony. They believed him to be responsible for the death of their parents back in 2005 during the bombings. The bombs used were defunct SI ones that never saw production. They were ones that Stane had tweaked and sold under the table. The twins thought it was Tony’s fault and had gone out of their way to join in with an evil organization just to get the chance to kill him. Tony wanted absolutely nothing to do with them once they were brought in. All he did was make a power dampening bracelet so that the witch couldn’t get into anyone else’s head. 

Although, Tony sort of wished he could have been there when the other Avengers explained to them that Tony was not responsible for their parents' death and had in fact helped kill the man who actually was responsible.

Well, one sit down wasn’t going to erase years of boiling hatred, so the twins were given over to the proper authorities.

And that brought some interesting things to light over the course of that summer. The Un and various world governments wanted to talk to the Avengers. All of them. They wanted more information on how the Avengers were operating and how they planned to pick missions moving forward. They wanted to know if they had plans to work for one government specifically or if they wanted to work with the UN. They wanted to know who was calling all the shots.

And that brought up the need for an oversight committee. A panel of people to figure out of the Avengers were going too far on their missions. At first, Steve had hated the idea. Same with Clint and Bruce when Thaddeus Ross tried to weasel his way onto the panel. Luckily Tony and Rhodey were able to step in and put a stop to that. And they, along with Sam, explained to the others why having some form of oversight was a good idea. They needed permission to enter certain places if the world wasn’t in crisis. Why they couldn’t just go to places and leave a huge mess.

There were a lot of arguments as things moved forward over the next year. Most days seemed like normal. But then there were some days where they were called in for meetings and there would be yelling and stress. So much stress. Although, then they got to meet King T’Chaka and Prince T’Challa of Wakanda it was a great honour. They seemed very nice and insightful. Tony couldn’t wait to work with them more as this continued on. 

But, there was still a LOT of stress involved. And what wasn’t really helping the stress was the fact that Tony may have just come across a new hero swinging around Queens. And this new hero looked like they were running around in a sweater and sweatpants. It hurt all the dad sensibilities he’d developed in the past few years since adopting Harley and Laura. He had to find this guy and give him an overhaul! 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap a lot when down there! What did everyone think? Good chapter? I managed to get rid of the whole Ultron situation so that’s one less problem to worry about. And, I guess y’all all know who the certain onesie clad hero is. It’s a fun one! I’ll see y’all soon! -Shadows


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who’s ready for Peter!?!?! I’m ready! And I’m pretty sure all of you guys are ready as well. Let's go. I'll see you at the end.

Tony spent a good month digging into this Spider-Man character in his spare time before he got any concrete leads on who this guy was. And let's just say that he wasn’t very happy when he finally got an answer from FRIDAY.

“He’s 14 Pep. 14!” worried Tony as he showed Pepper what he had found out about his mystery Spider-Guy. He was a 14-year-old genius named Peter Parker. He lived with his Aunt May in Queens, went to Midtown School of Science, and was swinging around Queens in pyjamas.

“I know you’re worried Tony, but I’m also positive you were doing way worse things at 14 then running around and stopping petty thefts.”

“Hey! Not fair!”

“God, you’re such a dad Tony.” Smiled Pepper and Tony wanted to argue if it wasn’t the truth. He’d softened up over the years since having Harley and Laura in his life. Now he worried about all the kids out there doing reckless things despite the fact that he himself had once been just, if not even more reckless then the vast majority of the kids out there looking for some sort of teenage rebellion.

“You know, if you’re so worried, go and meet this kid. By the looks of things he seems smart. Offer him an internship. Make sure he’s on the right path. Maybe he’ll make a good babysitter for Laura when everyone is called out. Plus, he could probably benefit from some training from the team. You never know” suggested Pepper and Tony’s eyes widened. Why the hell didn’t he think of that?!”

“See, this is why I love you. You’re just full of good ideas.”

“You sure you just aren’t marrying me for the money I make as CEO?” joked Pepper and Tony hugged her and gave her a little kiss.

“Of course I am for I am just a lowly commoner bowing before your greatness.”

Three days later Tony found himself sitting in May Parker’s apartment talking to her about bringing her nephew on as his personal intern through a grant with the Maria Stark Foundation. All the internship stuff would be true. Tony had seen the kid's grades and extracurriculars. He was smart and had a bright future. Tony just didn’t tell her about the Spider-Kid stuff. It was very likely that May didn’t know.

There was a LOT of talking. Like, a LOT! May was skeptical at first about the whole thing. Peter was all she had left she had a right to be. She was hesitant to let him take the position. But, on the other hand, allowing Peter to work with Tony Stark would set him up for life. He’d learn more than he ever could at school. He’d get work experience, plus Tony said that the position would be paid because Tony just didn’t believe in unpaid internships.

So, in the end, May gave her good to go for the internship. Now all Tony needed to do was talk to Peter himself. And he should be arriving back from school any minute now.

“Hey May. You wouldn’t believe it! There’s this crazy car outside!” came a voice from the front door. Tony looked over and saw young Peter Parker walking into the apartment, earbuds in, and really not looking at his surroundings. Well, until he spotted Tony. The kid’s eyes widened and he looked absolutely shocked. It was kind of funny to look at.

“Um… What?” stuttered out Peter and Tony smiled at him.

“Mr. Parker.” Smiled Tony and he took just a little bit of glee in how much Peter was trying to keep himself under control.

“What’s… What’s going on?”

“Well, it’s time we met in person and hashed everything out. You’ve been getting me emails, right?” Tony sent the teen a wink and hoped that he understood what he needed to do.

“Um.. yeah. Totally.”

“Well, I’m here to go over the details with you about your internship. You got it by the way. By far the best applicant I’ve ever seen.” Praised Tony and he meant it. Peter was a smart kid and with those puppy dog eyes he was shooting around, that kid was going to be a force to be reckoned with. 

“Yeah. Alright. What do we need to go over?”

“Well, your Aunt already gave everything the green light so I wanted to talk over the finicky details with you.”

“Here, I’ll leave you two be for a bit to go over things. Although Peter, I deserve an explanation as to why you didn’t tell me about this after supper.” Spoke May and Peter nodded.

Quickly Peter and Tony took off to the teen's room so they could talk without anybody listening in to the conversation.

“Mr. Stark, I don’t understand why you’re here. I didn’t apply for any internship.” Spoke Peter as they walked into his room and closed the door.

“You did the second you went out to fight crime in that onesie of yours.” Smirked Tony.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Rebutted Peter.

“Oh, so this isn’t you?” asked Tony as he pulled out his phone and started showing some videos of Spider-Man in action. “Wow! Look at you go.”

“That’s… that’s nothing.” Argued Peter but Tony knew the kid was lying.

“Oh, then what’s this.” Asked Tony as he took a nearby broom and opened up the little hatch in the ceiling, causing Peter’s Spider-Man costume to fall out and land in his hands.

“That’s nothing!”

“Just stop kid. I know you’ll little secret. You’re the Crime Fighting Spider, the Spider-Boy, Spider-Dude.”

“Spider… Spider-Man.” Whispered Peter and Tony smiled before putting the blackout goggles of the costume to his eyes. 

“Lordy! How can you even see in these things?”

“Mr. Stark why are you here?” asked Peter again.

“I’m here to offer you an opportunity. A pretty big opportunity at that.” Smiled Tony and Peter looked on with curiosity. 

“Look, kid. You’re obviously smart and in need of an overhaul and some training. I’m offering you a chance to get that. You’d come to the tower a few times a week to work on your fighting skills and to have lab time with Harley and me so we can give you an overhaul. You desperately need one. Plus it’ll give you a safer environment to do some engineering. You’re a smart kid. Let's give you to tools you need to get somewhere.” Explained Tony and Peter looked at him in awe.

“You really mean it?”

Yup. You’re Aunt already said yes and everything.”

“You didn’t tell her about Spider-Man, did you?”

“Of course not.” Peter let out a sigh of relief and smiled. 

“So, what do you say kid? You in?”

“I’m in.”

And so, Peter started coming to the tower on weekends and on Fridays to learn from the best. The first weekend he was there Peter got to meet the Avengers, Happy, Pepper, and Laura. Harley wasn’t there because he had was having a sleepover party with a couple of friends from school. Peter had had fun that weekend. Tony had gotten the teen set up in the lab and a schedule was set for how things would work. It was actually a nice weekend and luckily Peter got along nicely with Laura, even allowing the almost 9-year-old to paint his nails.

Harley came home Sunday evening a little while after Peter had left. Tony drove out to go pick him up and was happy that Harley had had a good time with his friends. As they started the drive back to the tower, Tony turned to Harley and informed him about what was changing at the tower and about Peter. Harley sat there nicely and listened before opening his mouth and saying what was on his mind 

“Dad, are you just going to adopt any slightly troubled science child you see? Cuz that’s twice now.”

“Really Harley? Where did all this sass come from?”

“You probably.”

Tony shot his son a look but couldn’t help but smile. Harley smiled back and they continued driving back home.

Introducing Harley and Peter was a mistake. Those two got on like a house on fire despite Peter being a few years older. At every turn, those two were scheming about something. It generally had to do with some sort of ill-advised science experiment or using Peter’s spider-powers for evil. And by evil that meant having Peter stick to the ceiling and scaring the shit out of people passing by on the common floor.

Well, at least the kids were happy and at least they didn’t do it to Tony because he had a heart condition and they weren’t monsters.

A month into Peter spending time at the tower had passed that the kid had an alright Spider-Man/school/life balance. Things at the tower continued on as normal, just with one extra spider baby. Laura started taking piano lessons from Tony after school and on the weekends, Harley joined his school’s robotics club, and Peter was over three times a week to work with Tony, the Avengers, and just do general Spider-Man patrols and check-ins. Things were great and everyone was getting along with the new changes.

And then Steve found Bucky.

Steve and Sam had found the wayward soldier in Romania hiding out and trying to make sense of the mess in his head. They managed to convince the man to come back to the tower with them and Steve gave Tony very little warning about that.

When Bucky arrived Tony didn’t go great him. He didn’t think he could face the man who killed his mother even if he couldn’t really be held responsible for it. Tony also kept the kids away for the first few weeks. He knew that the poor man was a little unstable and jumpy from what Sam had told him. He didn’t need the kids stressing him out and potentially causing an accident. 

Tony, despite his anger at Steve over this whole situation, wasn’t going to be a complete dick to somebody who had been tortured for years and had metal in his body. He knew how much that hurt. So, Tony offered up the usage of some of his tech. He let Bucky use a program he created called B.A.R.F. that was made to help with PTSD and harmful memories. He hoped it would help a bit along with him going to actual therapy.

The second thing Tony did was fix up his arm a bit. A lot of the tech in there was painfully outdated and must have been painful to deal with. So, Tony fixed it up. There wasn’t really much talking the few times Bucky was in the lab getting fixed up, But Tony knew the man was grateful for his help because plates of baked goods would appear in the lab after those tune-ups. Apparently Bucky had taken up baking as a calming activity. For some reason, Sam wasn’t allowed to eat any of his creations. 

Meanwhile, Peter was going off on his own more often and giving Tony a whole new set of grey hairs. Peter had alerted the Avengers to his guy who called himself The Vulture. He was stealing tech leftover from the Battle of New York. The Avengers were quick to get on the case so that Peter could focus on his decathlon finals but unfortunately, the kid wasn’t much for listening.

Not only had Peter almost gotten himself blown up, but he’d also gotten dropped from a very high hight into the river. Tony ended up flying out to go save the kid while the other active Avengers went and brought The Vulture into custody. Tony gave the kid a talking to about staying low to the ground and listening to the adults while he was young and still learning. Peter may have good intentions, but he just wasn’t ready to handle the big things yet. Tony didn’t want the poor kid thrust into the deep end like he had.

Two weeks after the Vulture had been brought in, Tony was sitting down with Harley and Laura working on homework when his phone rang. Tony picked it up and saw that it was Peter calling. He answered with his usual greeting but was met with a very frantic Peter on the other end.

“Hey, hey. Peter. Slow down. What’s going on?” asked Tony as he got up and left Thor looking over the kids. He would have asked Sam but he was off talking to this guy named Scott Lang who could use a suit to shrink down. He seemed cool, but that also meant that Thor was currently the only one who could watch the kids. Tony hoped that it wouldn’t end in disaster.

“May found out! Mr. Stark! May found out!” shouted Peter as his voice warbled.

“How did she find out?” asked Tony worriedly. He could tell that Peter was panicking.

“She was doing laundry and I accidentally left my suit out on my bed. I was really tired after coming home and I just wanted a shower.” Worried Peter again. “And now May is mad and worried and I don’t know how to explain everything. Like how the hell do I tell her about the field trip and getting bit by that spider?”

“Do you need me to come over?” asked Tony. He was already on the way to the garage.

“Please. I just don’t know what to do.”

Tony let Pepper know what was going on and he was on his way. It didn’t take Tony long to get there and he was met with a frantic looking Peter and a slightly irate May. There was a lot of talking. And… maybe some yelling. Nobody really liked the yelling. But, Tony understood what May was acting mad. She was scared. She was worried. She didn’t want to see Peter get hurt. She’d already lost her husband. She didn’t want to lose Peter as well.

Tony helped explain what he could. He explained why he kept Peter’s secret and everything he did to help. He also talked about all the fun they were having in the lab and everything Peter had learned. By the end, May had a better understanding of what was going on and how she could support Peter. She knew Peter wasn’t going to stop being Spider-Man. She just wanted to help keep him safe. 

And that was when May started coming down to the tower to check in on things and to learn more about how to support Peter. That was also when May met and became friends with Pepper. Combined together were a force to be reckoned with. Add in Natasha and you had a perfect storm to get pretty much any Avenger to actually behave like an adult. 

So, May and Peter got added to the new normal at the tower. Actually, over the holiday break, they moved in with everyone else so that Peter could have more training. Nobody had a problem with that arrangement. They just got assimilated into their weird family. Although, Peter and Harley continued their little prank war with even more intensity now that they lived together.

And then there were the times that Peter accidentally called Tony “dad”. Nobody really commented on that, but Harley and Laura did start calling Peter their big brother. And it wasn’t like Tony really minded. What’s one more science kid to his collection? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have another nerdy child! Yay! Bucky is also here and healing. Nobody is beating the shit out of each other. All is good. Get ready for the next chapter. It’s a really happy one! I’ll see you all soon!!! -Shadows


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s wedding time! It’s been a hot minute since I’ve gotten to write a wedding! Who’s excited!! It’s all fluff in this one before I ramp up the angst. But for now, please enjoy the fluff and happiness.

Tony and Pepper got married in the summer of 2017. After years of planning and working and figuring out their schedules, everything finally fell into place and they were able to get married.

That day, Their friends and family had made sure that Tony and Pepper stayed separate until the ceremony. Although that was proving to be a little difficult for both parties. Tony tried to sneak out of his room twice to catch a glimpse at Pepper and Pepper tried to sneak out to get a glimpse at Tony. It was kind of a circus that morning.

Tony spent his morning getting ready with Rhodey, Happy, Peter, and Harley. The kids had fun goofing off in their suits while Rhodey and Happy tried in vain to keep Tony calm. The stupid part of his brain was convinced that Pepper was going to leave even though the logical side knew that she wasn’t. They had a life together. They adopted kids together for fuck's sake! Pepper and Tony loved each other. Nothing bad was going to happen.

All too soon, it was time for the wedding to start. They’d decided to have the wedding upstate by a lake. They’d all spent the night at a chateau by the water with everyone waiting excitedly for the wedding in the afternoon.

As the guests were seated. Tony and Rhodey stood at the altar while Happy and Peter stood off to the side. Harley was close by with the rings and a smile on his face. They all bad black suits on and Tony’s was adorned with a red tie and a red and gold carnation boutonniere.

Minutes later, the music started and Pepper’s bridesmaids walked down the aisle dressed in dark red, floor-length, form-fitting strapless dresses. They were quickly followed by Laura who was dressed in a similar coloured dress with a fluffy skirt and little gold accents. She scattered the aisle with rose petals and had a huge smile on her face.

And then Pepper walked down the aisle.

Tony wanted to try and not cry on his wedding day but that plan went out the window the second he saw Pepper. Her hair was done up in elegant braids and curls. Her make-up was simple but highlighted her natural beauty. Pepper’s dress was breathtaking. It was s strapless mermaid style white dress with light ruffles on the bottom. Her bust was accented with some crystals and the whole look was brought together with a small red rose bouquet.

There were tears in both of their eyes as they took each other's hands and the ceremony began.

Tony didn’t really pay much attention as the officiant spoke. Like, he knew what was going on, but he wasn’t paying attention. All his attention was devoted to Pepper. He wanted to commit this moment to memory. This was one of the best days of his life, Tony wanted to remember it forever. Luckily though, he was paying enough attention to know when it was time for vows.

“Pepper,” began Tony as he looked into her eyes. “Years ago you burst into my life with a stack of files and a can of pepper spray. Never could I have believed that that moment would lead us here. The fact that we came together, started a family, it amazes me every day. I don’t think I’d be where I am today without you by my side. I wouldn’t be half the man I am without you. I’m so glad you chose me to be your husband. How someone so perfect could love a mess like me id beyond me, but I’m not going to argue that. I love you, Pepper. With every ounce of me, I Love You.”

By the end of Tony’s vows, both he and Pepper had tears in their eyes once more. Tony was really proud of himself for not messing up or blubbering like an idiot. He was glad that his vows made Pepper smile.

“Tony. I love you.” Smiled Pepper as she began her vows. “I love you. I love our kids. I love our family. Sure, we’ve had some ups and downs over the years. There have been moments of sorrow and peace, but I’m glad I got to share them with you. I wouldn’t trade when we have for the world. I love you Tony and I’m glad I get to spend my life with you.”

Both of them were absolutely crying once Pepper was done her vows. Neither really cared by that point. This was their moment and they could cry if they wanted to. Soon after Harley gave them the rings so they could exchange them. They were identical gold bands and Pepper’s was studded with blue diamonds the same colour as Tony’s arc reactor. After the rings were exchanged the officiant said a few more words before announcing Tony and Pepper as man and wife.

They smiled and shared their first kiss as a married couple as their friends and family cheered.

After the ceremony was complete it was time for pictures and snacks. Like, loads of snacks. The pictures were nice. Tony and Pepper took some with just the to of them, some with the kids, and some with their friends and family. Neither of them could stop smiling and sneaking little kisses when they thought nobody was looking.

The reception was perfect. There was dinner and dancing. Tony and Pepper had opted for little cupcakes instead of a cake and that made the kids and Thor very happy. Their first dance together was magical. It was as if the whole world had melted away and only Tony and Pepper remained. Tony would be replaying that moment in his head for the rest of his life. He never thought he’d ever get married, but he was glad he had. Marrying the love of his life was one of the best decisions Tony had ever made. 

The rest of the night was filled with smiles and laughs. The kids had fun dancing and showing some of the Avengers how to have a real party. Tony and Pepper just smiled at their antics. They liked seeing the kids so happy. Harley and Peter were trying to teach Steve and Bucky how to dance and Laura was dancing on Thor’s feet as the god pranced around the room. The two smiled at each other as the night came to a close.

They wouldn’t change a thing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHH! They’re married and happy. I love it. I hope you did too. The next chapter may take a little time to come out. You’ll find out why when you read it. It’s all coming together now. I’ll see you all soon. -Shadows 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, fuck! Guess what time it is? It’s about time to fix IW and Endgame don’t you think. I’m sort of stealing how it’s going to be fixed from another fic I wrote, but whatever. If it works it works. A LOT is about to go down so stay tuned. I’ll see you at the end.

It was March 2018 when Thor went to visit Asgard and returned with a spaceship full of admittedly cool people and Loki. Nobody was really happy about Loki, but the Guardians of the Galaxy were pretty cool. Especially Nebula. Tony thought she was awesome.

The reason Thor had returned with some new friends was because they had news of a new threat. A threat by the name of Thanos. The Man Titan was searching for things called Infinity Stones so that he could illuminate half of all life in the universe because he was sad that his own planet fell. Well, that was grossly oversimplifying it but Tony wasn’t one for overcomplicating plans. He only did that with projects and pranks. There was one stone confirmed on Earth. Well, there were three now because Loki had the Mind and Space stones in his possession. Whoever thought that was a good idea deserved to rot I hell but none of them could really get the stones away from Loki so they were just going to hope that he behaved himself.

Because of this new, and extreme threat to life in the universe as everyone knew it, The Avengers made the call to call in Fury who in turn called in his friend Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel. She was a human who got some pretty sweet powers from the Space Stone. She also didn’t take any shit from the guys of the group. Tony had to admit, she was pretty badass.

There was also the fact that Rhodey had developed a crush on her and Tony just loved to tease him about it. Maybe if they made it through all of this he’d set the two up on a date.

They also called up Prince T’Challa and his sister Shuri to help out. They were more than eager to help defend the universe. Although, introducing Shuri and Peter was almost as big of a mistake as introducing Harley and Peter. The number of memes and science jokes that happened left everyone confused and Bucky got so fed up with the magnets in his arm that he punched a wall. Not one of his finer moments. 

A few days after everyone’s arrival, Thor and Loki introduced everyone else to a sorcerer named Doctor Strange. Well, it was more like the man just showed up and got mad at Loki for being on Earth but then got dragged into all of the planning. The man used to be a neurosurgeon before his hands got wrecked and he decided to take up magic.

Tony still wasn’t really a fan of magic. Not after Maximoff that was for sure.

So with a very large group of people now staying at the tower, it was time to start planning how they were going to take care of Thanos and his forces. And that was the hard part. That was the _really_ hard part. Everyone was high-key stressed out. Tempers ran high, there was yelling. It wasn’t pretty. Tony made sure to try and keep his kids away from all of that. He knew Laura listened and was more than happy to spend time with Pepper and May. Harley and Peter… not so much. Tony lost track of the number of times he caught the two teens trying to sneak into the meetings. He knew they were just curious but Tony really didn’t want them in the room when the talks turned to death and desolation.

Most of the beginning talks had to do with fighting here on Earth since it was where Thanos was heading. The world's governments had been informed of the situation and the Avengers were given the go-ahead to work however they needed. The fate of the Earth was at stake. Tony had actually done pretty well in keeping level headed through all of the talks at that point. He gave good information and even set up workspaces for Scott Lang and Rocket to help him and Rhodey make weapons and defensive shields for everyone. Pretty much everyone was somewhat getting along.

And then the holograms started.

It was Rocket’s fault for bringing the holograms up. He brought the information in from the Guardians’ ship to show everyone what they were dealing with. The first initial things show were just what their enemy looked like. Simple things so they knew who they were up against.

But then Rocket brought up the projections of space. 

Tony’s mind and body froze as he looked over at the projection. There were stars and planets and darkness. Deep, never-ending darkness. Tony suddenly found himself deep inside his own head. He was back there in 2012, carrying a nuke into a wormhole fully expecting to die alone on the other side. He was there, staring down an armada that he now knew was Thanos’ army. He was there in the freezing cold as the suit lost power and he fought to breathe. Tony felt his chest constrict and his breathing hitch as his hands shook and his eyes became unfocused.

“Tones? You alright?” asked Rhodey as he walked over to Tony.

“I need… I need to go.” Breathed out Tony as he practically fled the room.

Tony made it almost all the way to his room before he collapsed against the wall and slid to the floor. He was glad that none of the others followed him. He didn’t need Cap mother henning and butting into things that weren’t his business. Rhodey was probably keeping them all back. He knew that Tony would need space and silence to calm down. Sure he’d check in on Tony later because he was good like that. But after years of having them, Rhodey knew how to handle Tony’s panic attacks and flashbacks. 

It took Tony a minute, but he was eventually able to get his breathing under control. He remained sitting on the floor outside his room though. He just felt exhausted. He always did after. He wanted to just lay down and take a nap but he knew he couldn’t. Not when he’d be expected back soon. So, he just sat on the floor and took a moment. But, his moment was interrupted by Harley walking over and staring him down. 

“Dad? You alright?” asked Harley as he sat down next to Tony on the hallway floor. “Are they talking about space?”

“Yeah… Yeah, they are.” Breathed out, Tony. He was only just getting his emotions back into some semblance of order.

“Do I need to go yell at anyone?”

“No kid. You don’t need to yell at anyone.”

They two sat in silence for a little bit. Harley put his head on Tony’s shoulder and just stayed there. Tony was glad that his kid was understanding of his need to silence. Eventually, Tony was able to get himself back in order and was sort of ready to rejoin the others. He didn’t really want to, but he was important and they needed him there.

“You gonna be alright Dad?” asked Harley as they got up. 

“I will be Harley. Once this is over it’ll all be alright.”

Harley nodded and went back to finish the movie he was watching in his room. Tony went back to the group who thankfully didn’t ask questions or stare. He owes Rhodey one of that, that was for sure. 

Two weeks later, in mid-April, most of the planning was done and the group was getting ready to move out. It was one of the last nights the group of heroes would be spending at the tower, so everyone was trying to make sure everything was in order. They were heading upstate to fight. They wanted to be close enough for medical attention if they needed it, but far enough that Thanos and his troops were kept away from civilians.

Tony had spent the entire day in his lab making sure the nanites fir his suit were in working order and the new arc reactor casing was fitting alright. He didn’t need any mechanical mishaps on the field when the time came. After hours of work, he was finally able to retire to his and Pepper’s room to get some much-needed sleep.

Pepper was already there when he arrived. She was in her pyjamas brushing her teeth so Tony took the opportunity to get into his. Once Pepper was done, Tony brushed his and went to go sit down on the edge of the bed. He felt exhausted but seeing Pepper made him feel a little better.

“Tony, I’ve got something to tell you.” Spoke Pepper as she sat down on the bed next to Tony.

“It’s nothing bad is it?” worried Tony. Pepper just smiled back at him.

“No, it’s nothing bad. It’s good and I think you could use some good news.”

“Well, now you’ve got my attention. What is it?”

And then Pepper dropped the bombshell. 

“Tony, I’m pregnant.”

As much as Tony wanted to vehemently deny what happened, he practically burst into tears at the news. He pulled his wife into his arms and smiled widely. Years ago, Tony would have felt dread and anger at the news. He wouldn’t have wanted anything to do with a baby. But Tony wasn’t the same man as he was when he was younger. He was already a dad. He had two official kids. Hell, he had three if you counted Peter. And well, Tony totally counter Peter. The kid called him dad and slept at the tower on weekends. He totally counted. So, because Tony was already a dad and knew he wouldn’t hurt or screw up a kid like his own father had, this was good news. His wife was pregnant and they were going to have a baby. Fuck he was happy. 

“How… How far along are you?” asked Tony once he got a hold of his emotions again.

“Eight weeks. I talked to the doctor this morning.”

“Eight weeks! Wow.” Whispered Tony as he knelt on the ground and buried his face in Pepper’s stomach.

The entire night Tony couldn’t keep his hands off of Pepper’s stomach. He made his feel connected to the baby. It also made him feel like he was doing something to protect them. He was scared about the fight to come and if he could protect his wife and kids, he’d do anything. They were his entire world. 

A week after finding out Pepper was pregnant it was time for the Avengers and Co to leave for their chosen battleground. Everyone’s gear was packed onto the jet and the Guardian’s ship. They had food, water, and extra supplies to last them all an entire month. Getting their ships loaded and ready was done fast and easy. The goodbyes were not.

“Dad, please! We can help!” worried Peter as he tugged at Tony’s arm. He was wearing his suit and looked ready to sneak onto the jet.

“Yeah, Dad. We can help. Just give me a suit and I can help. You need more help.” Spoke Harley as he grabbed at Tony’s other arm.

“No. Absolutely not. We’ve been over this. I’m not having you two on the battlefield. It’s too dangerous.” Argued Tony as he looked between the two teens.

“But we can help.” Shouted Peter and Tony sent him a pointed look.

“No Peter. You’re too young and inexperienced. I’m not having you two go out there just so you can get yourself or others hurt. I refuse to send my own kids out there to die. You’re staying here so if something happens you can protect everyone staying behind. Do I make myself clear?” 

“I just don’t want to lose you.” Whispered Harley. There were a few stray tears in his eyes. Tony pulled both boys into a hug and held them close.

“Look, I can’t promise that I’ll come back. But, I will try everything in my power to return. This is dangerous but it needs to be done. But I still can’t have you two there. If I lost either of you. If I lost Pepper or Laura… I don’t know what I’d do. So please stay here. Please stay safe and I’ll do my damnedest to come home. I will always try my damnedest to come home. Alright?” spoke Tony and the two teens nodded into his shoulders. There were tears in their eyes and it broke Tony’s heart.

Next to say goodbye was Laura. She pretty much clung to Tony and tried not to cry. Tony ended up picker her up even though she wasn’t as small as she used to be but Tony held her anyway. Laura gave him a little good luck charm she’d made for him. She said it was to keep him safe. Tony tucked it away in his pocket and promised to never let it go while he was away.

And then there was Pepper. His beautiful, perfect Pepper. His wife who was pregnant with their baby. He didn’t want to leave her, but he knew he had to. He had to protect her and their kids from his. He’d know this was coming for years now, but that didn’t make it any easier. So, all Tony did was pull his wife into a hug, give her a kiss, and hope for the best. 

“You better come back to us Tony. Our kids need their Dad.” Sighed Pepper as she held Tony close. All he could do was nod and hug back. He really hoped this wasn’t the last time he’d hug his wife and kids. He hoped he’d make it back home to see their new baby. He just wanted to live.

Getting on the jet and leaving the tower felt like marching off to war. Well, that’s exactly what it was but Tony had never felt like that before. But he also was feeling some other emotions. He felt scared, he felt anxious, he felt determined. He felt a lot of other emotions, but Tony just didn’t want to deal with them. He mostly stayed silent throughout the short flight.

Once they’d arrived at their chosen battleground it was all hands on deck. Things were being set up and the area was being cleared. The activity helped keep everyone occupied and focused instead of worrying about the coming events.

Although that wasn’t helpful at all once night fell. Most of the people present didn’t really sleep much those first few nights. Tony especially had trouble sleeping. The sky was clear where they were. No light pollution. The stars and darkness seemed to loom over him every night and all they brought were dread. So, Tony spent his sleepless nights texting his family and generally annoying Bruce and Rhodey. He also talked to Scott a bit. He liked the little and dude. He had a daughter of his own and was a fellow engineer. It was nice to talk to another smart person who also had kids.

The next week was pretty calm. They spent their time running drills and going over information while waiting for the inevitable. But still, there wasn’t much they could do. Not until the battle really started. There was a lot of talking and exercising during that time. That and a lot of reports back to the UN about the situation and what was going on. Not that there was a lot going on. It was actually pretty calm. Like the eye of a hurricane.

That all changed on April 26, 2018.

The early morning had been calm. They all ate breakfast together. They were even laughing and telling jokes. And then around noon, the ships arrived. It was just one at first. It looked like a grey flying doughnut. A being came down from the ship to demand the stones. Gamora and Nebula said the creature's name was Ebony Maw. Tony just called him Squidward. Fuck he’d been watching too many cartoons with the kids. 

Naturally, they all refused to hand over the stones. And that was when more ships came. There were dozens of ships shaped like spikes, and inside them, hundreds of fighters that Gamora and Nebula called Outriders. Along with then were the other members of the Black Order.

That was when the fighting started.

It was nothing short of chaos. Tony was glad that he’d given everybody highly durable com units so they could communicate. There was so much shouting. Steve and Gamora were shouting directions every few minutes and every so often somebody would call out in need of back up. Tony, Rhodey, Strange, Sam, Carol, and Quill were doing what they could from the air. They were the eyes in the skies. They were the ones who knew where the worst danger was and they were the ones to swoop in and stop it.

They hadn’t been fighting for more than an hour and Tony was already feeling exhausted. His muscles ached and his nanites were starting to run a little thin. It was scary. There was so much screaming and blood. Luckily everybody was still standing but nobody knew if that would still be true by the end of this. There were still so many outriders. Luckily, they managed to talk out half of the Black Order so far so they had that going for them.

Just as they all seemed to be getting a handle on the situation, a large ship entered the atmosphere around them and a large, purple titan. The battlefield seemed to stand still as he got closer and closer. There was a gauntlet on his left hand adorned with a red stone and a purple stone. He looked formidable with his gold plated armour and large, double-edged sword.

“That’s him. That’s Thanos.” Spoke Nebula from where she stood.

The titan didn’t even stop as he stalked onto the field and started raining down fire with the stones. Like, he was raining down actual fire with one of his stones. It became a game of fiery dodgeball as everyone who could raced towards Thanos. They had one goal. Get the gauntlet away from the titan and kill him. In theory, it wouldn’t be that hard with the sheer number of powered individuals on the field. But with the amount of exhaustion everyone was feeling as well as the bleeding cuts and breaks they were enduring, it felt like everyone was running a marathon just to stay alive.

Tony wasn’t even sure what was happening anymore. There was just so much noise and pain and his chest was hurting. He wanted a nap. He wanted to go home and cuddle with his wife and kids and just sleep. And this was coming from the man who hadn’t had a decent sleep schedule since he was a little kid.

He just wanted this to stop.

“I’VE GOT IT!” shouted Carol and Tony’s attention was directed to her.

Carol was speeding across the battlefield with the gauntlet in her hands. Thanos was hot on her heals and everyone else was busy grappling with the Outsiders. Thanos was getting surprisingly close and Tony knew what he had to do. He landed right in front of Thanos and hit him with a repulsor blast. The titan looked taken aback as Tony retracted his helmet and stared the tyrant dead in the eyes and was surprised when Thanos looked back at him with knowing eyes. 

“Stark.” Spoke the titan and Tony’s eye’s widened though he tried to disguise his fear.

“You know me?”

“Yes. You’re not the only one cursed with knowledge.”

“My only curse is you.”

And with that Tony pulled some of his suit nanites away from his abdomen to create a great sword. Thanos drew his blade as well and the two charged at each other. Tony had one thought running through his brain. Go. For. The. Head. 

So that’s what Tony did. He thrust his sword deep into Thanos’ neck at the same time as Thanos thrust his sword into Tony’s unprotected abdomen. But Tony didn’t register the pain at first. His focus was on Thanos as the deep, bleeding wound in his neck. Tony pulled his sword back harshly and saw the titan’s eyes roll back in his head as he hit the ground dead. He felt something tug on his abdomen and he looked down to see a massive wound bleeding from his side into the dirt. Tony saw his teammates rushing forward towards him. They were yelling, but Tony didn’t register that.

Tony didn’t even have time to think before his world went black and he hit the ground with a dull thud.

.

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.

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.

Tony woke up to the sound of beeping and a stabbing pain in his abdomen. It took a lot of effort for him to even open his eyes, but he was glad he did. The first thing Tony saw was Pepper sitting at his bedside and holding his hand in her. There was a watery smile on her face that Tony tried to mirror but it turned into a grimace. Moving hurt. 

“How do you feel Tony?” asked Pepper as she ran a soothing hand over Tony’s forehead.

“Like I got stabbed.” Rasped out Tony with a frown. He hated how his voices sounded. How long was he out for?

“That’s because you got stabbed.” Deadpanned Pepper.

“Huh… guess I did. How long was I out for?”

“You’ve been out for a week. You needed surgery but the doctor said you should make a full recovery with time.” Soothed Pepper.

“Good… would hate to leave you and the kids. 10 points to me for not dying.”

Tony just sent him a look of disdain, but Tony knew it came from a place of love. Tony just gave a small smile back and allowed Pepper to baby him a bit while the doctor came in and explained everything. Tony didn’t pay much attention to what was going on. He didn’t really care. All he cared about was that he was alive and would heal while Thanos rotted in Hell. That and he also wanted to see his kids. He hadn’t seen them in a while and he needed to know if they were alright.

Luckily Tony didn’t have to wait long. Not long after the doctor left Harley, Laura and Peter came bursting into the room to smother their dad in affection. Harley and Peter sat at Tony’s sides while Laura sat on the bed with Tony. She smiled and said that she knew her little charm would protect her daddy and Tony smiled back at her.

The kids didn’t stay long. Tony was still exhausted and needed his rest. Pepper gave him a kiss and eft with the kids so he could get some much-needed sleep. 

A few days later the Avengers, Guardians, and everyone else showed up to make sure that Tony was alright. Rhodey and Happy were absent though. They’d visited earlier and left Tony to have a nap which everyone else had clearly ignored because he was woken up by the voices of his well-meaning friends.

“How you doing Tony? You took a pretty big hit there. We owe you for that. Without you, Thanos would still be out there.” Spoke Steve as he sat nearby.

“I’ve been better. I like it when I’m not dealing with a stab wound.” Grimaced Tony and a few of the other laughed.

“Well, I’m glad you’re alive. We still need you on the team.”

And well, that sort of got Tony thinking. He’d endured so much in the past few years alone, not to mention a lifetime of dealing with manipulation and a shitty ass father. With the threat of Thanos now over and a new baby on the way, Tony thought that it was high time he finally take a step down and focus on healing for himself and his family/ 

“You know what. I think it’s time to retire. I’m done fighting. I just want to be with my wife and kids. Like, I’ll still help out and make the Avengers things, but I don’t want to fight anymore. I’m done.” Spoke Tony with a sigh of finality. It felt good to get that off his chest.

“Well, if that’s your decision, we’ll respect that. You saved us all Tony. You deserve a break.” Spoke Steve and everyone else nodded.

Tony just smiled back. He’d done enough. It was time to rest now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HE LIVES! I wasn’t about to kill our boy. I hate Marvel for doing that. There are a lot of reasons why but I’m not going to go off right now. At least in fanfiction, Tony is alive and happy with his family. If Marvel won’t give us happy endings then we’ll just have to do it ourselves. What asshole decided that movies and books shouldn’t have happy endings. Not everything needs to end in tragedy. But, I digress. He’s alive here. Everyone is happy. That’s all that matters. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I can’t wait for you guys to read the next one. I’ll see you soon. -Shadows


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s the last chapter! I can’t believe it! I hope you enjoyed this fic. This is a shorter chapter but I feel it wraps up things nicely. I’ll see you at the end. Also happy (or really not so happy) one year anniversary of Endgame coming out. The only good things to come out of that movie were Morgan, Peter and the others coming back, and Scott being funny but also smart because he needs love too. 

_7 Months Later_

The room was quiet save for the sound of the heart monitor and the hum of an IV infuser. Pepper was getting some much-needed sleep after going through 20 hours of labour and another 3 hours of visitors and doctors visits after that. Tony sat at her side with their infant daughter safely sleeping in his arms. He could hardly keep his eyes off of her. Morgan was the perfect mix of him and Pepper. She was so small and so perfect. He just couldn’t believe it.

Peter, Harley, and Laura had been in not too long ago. They were all excited to meet their baby sister. Laura had all but climbed onto the bed with Pepper to see and hold Morgan. It made Tony and Pepper laugh a bit. She was going to make a fantastic big sister.

Harley had been excited as well. He’d brought Morgan a little teddy bear to have and gave her a little kiss. This wasn’t his first time dealing with a baby so he knew what he was doing. Well… to a degree. He’d been pretty little when Laura was born. But, Harley was still excited about the baby.

Peter had been a little more reserved when he came to meet Morgan. The entire time Pepper was pregnant he’d kept his distance a bit. He was terrified of hurting her because of his super strength. And that still held true now that Morgan was born. Peter only held Morgan when she was also being supported by Tony or Pepper. Nobody really blamed him. He’d never been around a baby before and they knew he’d get more comfortable with time. He just loved baby Morgan very much and didn’t want to hurt her.

All three kids had been amazing throughout Pepper’s pregnancy once she told them. They were so helpful while Tony was still recovering. Peter did all the heavy lifting, Harley did the dishes when asked, al Laura went baby crazy and just helped with anything and everything baby related. Having the kids help out gave Tony and Pepper the opportunity to relax as much as possible. But, once Tony was given the go-ahead from the doctor he was up and about making sure Pepper was doing alright and that things were set up for the baby.

When they found out they were having a little girl everyone was excited. Tony had to stop Laura from going overboard with all the dolls and pink. Pepper thought it was funny. Picking a name was easy. Morgan Holly Stark. A perfect name for a perfect little girl. Everybody loved her. 

Tony was pulled out of his thoughts as Morgan began fussing a bit in his arms. He held her even closer and rocked her a bit to help calm her down. He wanted Pepper to get some more sleep before waking up to feel the baby. As Tony held his daughter he started talking a little bit and that seemed to calm her.

“You have no idea how lucky you are Morgan. You’ve got the best mommy in the words. Two big brothers and a big sister who love you very much. You’ve got a dad who is going to smother you in affection. You’re already so loved little miss. So… so loved.” Whispered Tony with a small smile on his face.

Morgan just looked up at Tony with her big beautiful eyes. Tony was certain that they’d darken to his colouring as she got older. He just knew it. God, she was so perfect. And she was all his. It was moments like this one where Tony thought back to all the changes that had happened in his life. All the pain and doubts that lead to this. Tony could hardly believe that becoming Iron Man had lead to him becoming a father. That chasing The Mandarin had given Tony Harley and Laura. That looking for new heroes had given him Peter. That fighting alongside Pepper had gotten them married and given him Morgan.

Tony remembered that at the beginning of his journey into parenthood he had so many doubts. His own father had been a right piece of shit. He’d been terrified that he’d turn out just like him. He knew he had to be there for Harley and Laura, but he was terrified of fucking them up. But then he found his rhythm. He had Pepper by his side. He’d found Peter and brought him into the fold. Sure, there were horrible moments like the whole Winter Soldier thing with Steve, his vision in that bunker, and of course the fight with Thanos. It was moments like those that made Tony question everything. 

But with Pepper sleeping soundly, Morgan in his arms, and his older kids safe at home, Tony knew that he’d made the right decisions in the end. He had a family of his own. His own happy ending. He couldn’t be happier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that’s the fic. I hope you all enjoyed it. I like writing Tony as a parent. Which is why I’m doing it again in my new fic coming soon. It’ll be Thunderiron so keep an eye open for it. Well, thank you for reading. Drop a comment if you feel so inclined. I like seeing your feedback. I know this wasn’t one of my best pieces but given the current situation, it’s understandable. I’ll see you all soon for my new fic. Thanks for reading! -Shadows 

**Author's Note:**

> So… What did y’all think of the first chapter? Was it a good start? I thought it was. Let me know in the comments. I’ll see you all soon. -Shadows


End file.
